


No Pretenses

by SilverQuill



Series: No Promises [2]
Category: Descendants (Disney Movies), Tangled: The Series (Cartoon)
Genre: F/M, read the other fic first, sequel fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-27
Updated: 2019-10-04
Packaged: 2020-02-07 04:04:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 20
Words: 40,100
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18612754
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SilverQuill/pseuds/SilverQuill
Summary: The long-awaited sequel to “No Promises”! After the fall of Auradon, Via’s newly-reunited family- Via, her evil-genius father Varian, and her wildcard mother Lady Caine- are adjusting to life in Via’s wicked new world. But good hasn’t quite given up yet, and Via finds herself caught up in an age-old battle between dark and light. And a handsome stranger begins to complicate things as Via struggles to choose between the family she loves and the decisions to be made as a part of growing up...and experiencing true love for the first time.UPDATE: Please read “A Letter from the Author,” posted just after Chapter Four.ANOTHER UPDATE: Via’s final adventure, No Prisoners, premieres on January 3rd, 2020!!





	1. My Wicked World

 

A fist pounded on Via’s door, accompanied by a voice. 

 

“Via! Let’s go, you’re burning daylight here!”

 

“I’ve been up for hours, Dad!” Via called back, swirling green powder into a beaker full of water with a small glass rod. “Besides, I’m supposed to be late now, remember?”

 

“Yeah, yeah,” Varian said. He swung the door open and leaned against it, smirking. “But you’re already late by half an hour. You’ll miss science class.”

 

“Oh, come on, Dad,” Via groaned. “Yzma’s had the whole class working with Extract of Llama for a month and a half. I’m so far above that. I haven’t shown up for science since like, school started. What are they gonna do, when I’m the one who busted ‘em out of the Isle in the first place? I can get away with murder these days.”

 

“You’ve tried it?”

 

“Dad!” Via grabbed a pillow from the bed and threw it at him. Varian dodged it, laughing, and stepped fully into the room, examining the complicated distillation setup that covered Via’s desk.

 

“So what’s going on here?” he said, going down on one knee to peer at the contents of a bubbling vial. “Ooh, looks like someone’s playing with my old truth serum. What could you be using that for, I wonder?”

 

Via shrugged. “Villainy’s back in full swing, and I’m kinda important now. Which is really weird, by the way, but cool. I figure if I don’t start evil-ing it up, nobody else will either, and then what’s the point of breaking out?”

 

“You got me there. So what’s your plan with this, lace the water fountain or something?”

 

“Maybe.” Via grinned. “I was thinking I might bake some purple cookies.”

 

Varian groaned theatrically. “Please don’t remind me of that. I assure you, my dearest daughter, my methods have drastically matured.”

 

“I don’t know, I thought that trick was pretty good. Worked like a dream.”

 

“Yeah.” Varian scoffed. “Helped me steal the most useless magical object in history.”

 

“Hey, we all start somewhere.”

 

“I like your start better than mine.” Varian stood up, patting Via’s shoulder. “Come on now. I’ve got places to be this morning, and I need to be sure you’re at school.”

 

“Oh, fine.” Via slung her backpack over her shoulder. “Where’s Mom?”

 

“Downstairs, yelling at some poor idiot on her old crew. Business as usual.”

 

“Guess we’re fending for ourselves for breakfast, then.”

 

“Nah, I ate already. You go on and get something. Your acidic ratio is off a bit, I’ll go ahead and adjust it while you’re eating.”

 

“Thanks, Dad.” Via sprinted out the door and down the stairs of the bright Auradon townhome, sliding down the gleaming white bannister.

 

Ah, how different this Auradon was. In the six months since Via and her father had freed the villains from the Isle of the Lost, absolutely everything had been turned upside down and inside out. Evil wasn't supposed to win, but somehow it had. And Auradon hadn't been ready for that.

 

No one knew exactly what was happening with the heroes and their kids. Some were still trying to fight it out with their respective nemeses, but the smart ones had abandoned Auradon and were now lying low in woods and valleys, hiding from the revenge-bent villains that swarmed over their perfect kingdom. Most of the Auradon VKs had joined them, including Mal and her bunch, but a handful had reverted back to evil. 

 

As for the VKs who had never left the Isle at all, well, they'd never been introduced to good in the first place. Sure, there was the odd anti-hero or two, but they quickly learned to keep those opinions under wraps in Via's world. 

 

Via's world was wicked. The once-pristine streets of Auradon were spattered with graffiti, the houses remodeled and turned into villainous lairs. Surprisingly, though, when the villains had more than the heroes' garbage to work with, things weren't quite as grimy as they'd been on the Isle. Auradon, essentially, had been turned into a giant, slightly more sanitary version of the Isle. And Via had never been happier.

 

The new system had quickly worked itself out. There'd been speculation that Varian, as the one responsible for the barrier's destruction, would take over.

Instead, he'd turned the reins over to the now-human Maleficent. "You're the Mistress of All Evil," he'd said. "It's your place. I've already gotten my revenge; all I want now is a real life with my family." Maleficent had certainly appreciated  _that_. In return, she'd used that weird staff of hers to level Corona with one powerful blast. (Seeing how easily she'd done it, it was probably a good thing that Varian had deferred to her.)

 

She'd left Varian's old home standing, but the memories associated with it had been far too much. Their family had moved, instead, to a large, spacious townhome in central Auradon that had belonged to one of the fleeing heroes. It was only three blocks from Auradon Prep, which had been renamed "New Dragon Hall."

 

Via landed on her feet at the end of the bannister and walked into the kitchen. Lady Caine sat at the kitchen table, polishing a gleaming dagger and yelling into the cell phone tucked between her ear and her shoulder. "I don't want a bunch of pointless excuses, Dwayne! If Flora, Fauna and Merriweather are flying around again, we've got to find them before they un-villify something. Yes, Dwayne, I'm aware that un-villify isn't a word, you idiot!"

 

"Morning, Mom," Via mouthed. Caine smiled and waved at her before returning to the conversation. "So help me, I am this close to just turning a cannon or two on the whole...what? Why on earth would I...you know what, just can it, Dwayne."

 

Via stifled a giggle. Her mother's old pirate crew had been put in charge of the new Goodness Prevention Program, dealing with whatever heroes might choose to show their faces. While Caine was more than able to handle the task, her crew members didn't share her villainous brilliance and often tried her patience.

 

Via grabbed a chocolate muffin from a plate on the counter and shoved more than half of it into her mouth in one bite. Table manners were one thing that had gone missing along with the heroes. A chirp from behind her caused her to turn around.

 

Rudiger sat on the kitchen table with an apple core in front of him, scrubbing his face with his paws.

 

"Hey, buddy," Via said around her mouthful of muffin. "You coming with?"

 

In the first few days after the barrier had fallen, Rudiger had faced quite the crisis. The little raccoon hadn't seen Varian for a long time, and it was Via he'd bonded with on Auradon. For awhile, he hadn't been sure just which one he belonged to.

 

Eventually, though, he'd gotten used to having both Via and her father around. Sometimes he chose to stay with Varian in the lab, like the old days; otherwise, he went to school on Via's shoulder.

 

Rudiger cocked his head to one side, considering a moment, then scampered up Via's arm and pulled on the streak of blue hair hanging loose from her ponytail. Via laughed and tweaked his tail. It had almost become a joke between them now.

 

"I'm leaving, Dad!" she yelled up the stairs. "Rudi's with me today."

 

There was no answer, which meant Varian was deep in alchemy mode. By the time Via came home, the truth serum on her desk would probably have evolved into three separate experiments. Varian didn't believe in sticking to one idea at a time.

 

Via walked quickly down the street in the direction of Auradon Prep- whoops, New Dragon Hall.

 

Despite the fact that things weren't quite as sparkling clean anymore, Auradon was certainly pretty in the fall. The trees were blood red and flaming orange, and a carpet of leaves crunched under Via's shoes. A crow sat perched in one bare skeleton of a tree, cawing racously. It was the perfect villainous background noise. Via breathed in deeply and let out a long sigh, enjoying the feeling of contentment.

 

"Via! Hey, Via, wait up!"

 

Via stopped, turning around. A tall, gangly boy with a mop of black curls was running up the street towards her. She waved. "Hey, Gavin."

 

"I thought I'd never catch up to you!" Gavin said, reaching out to ruffle Rudiger's fur. "You were running like every princess in Auradon was after you with pink nail polish."

 

Via rolled her eyes, grinning in spite of herself. Like his mother, Gavin Gothel had a flair for the dramatic. He'd been one of the biggest surprises after the barrier was broken; somehow Via had never picked up on the fact that even Mother Gothel had a son. But they'd run into each other on their first day at the newly evilified Auradon Prep and immediately hit it off, each without knowing who the other was. Needless to say, when they'd finally figured it out, it had been quite the shock. They'd each told their parents, and, tentatively at first, then more and more boldly, Varian, Caine and Mother Gothel had started getting to know each other. It turned out the three Corona villains had more in common than they knew, and it helped that their respective kids had become such good friends. In no time at all, the two families had interwoven with each other, to the point where Gavin and Via spent nearly as much time at each other's houses as they did their own. It was nice, Via thought, one more way to establish the normal life they'd never had the chance to live.

 

"I was waiting," Gavin said. "I wanted to walk with you to school, but you took forever! You're like, really late." He shoved a stray curl out of his face. "Not that they're gonna do anything about it. It must be nice, being such a hero."

 

_That_ word stopped Via in her tracks. "Huh?"

 

Gavin turned the same shade of dark red as the shirt he was wearing. "Oops. I didn't mean it that way. You're the one who saved everybody, ya know? Like a hero, only you're a villain. I'm not making any sense, am I?"

 

Via giggled. "No, I get it. Guess there's not really a word for that."

 

"Because you're the first one who's ever done it. It's groundbreaking."

 

"Oh, come on, Gavin, it's not that big a deal. And anyway, that was six months ago." Via looked up to see the familiar shape of New Dragon Hall, complete with Maleficent's statue in place of Beast's and a "Long Live Evil" flag, looming above them.

 

Gavin was right, Via realized. She was really, really late. The hallways were deserted, class long since started. For a moment she felt guilty for not showing up, and for making Gavin wait for her, but she quickly pushed the thought away. They were villains now; this was the way they were supposed to behave. _This isn’t Auradon anymore._

 

But her thoughts must have shown on her face, because Gavin leaned down to whisper in her ear. "Chill out. We'll just slip in for History of Evil. Science should let out in...now."

 

Sure enough, the doors of one of the classrooms opened, and a flood of villain students poured out into the hall, shouting and shoving, pushing and punching and insulting and catcalling and hollering and laughing. The once prim and proper Auradon Prep had been turned into a chaotic mess. And Via loved it.

 

She was no longer the girl who was overlooked. Everyone recognized her now; kids whose names she didn't even know got out of her way in a hurry. Everybody knew who Via was, and they'd seen firsthand what she could do. She'd won their respect, something not even Mal had ever been able to accomplish.

 

Eventually, however, the teachers managed to corral everyone back into the classrooms for History of Evil. Via took the best seat in the front of the class, with Gavin right behind her. No one questioned her choice or said anything about her tardiness. As she'd told Varian that morning, she could get away with murder these days. The other students watched her enviously, no doubt longing for the invincibility that came with Via's achievements. None of them would have dared to show up so late or hoped to get away with it.

 

At least, that was what Via thought. So when the classroom door swung open halfway through the lecture on "The Seven Most Evil Plots In History," she immediately turned around to see who had had the guts to actually show up later than her.

 

Her mouth dropped open. Her eyes went wide.

 

_Of all the things I was expecting, it was definitely not this._


	2. New Kid In Town

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A smooth-talking stranger catches Via off her guard, providing her with a mystery she’s determined to solve.

Via was the type of girl who kept her priorities straight most of the time. And she definitely wasn’t the daydreamy princess kind. But the moment she saw who had walked through the door of the classroom, her thoughts betrayed her.

 

_Holy wickedness. That guy is hot._

 

He was taller than her, which wasn’t exactly hard to do. He had rusty brownish-red hair swept to the side and wore a black leather jacket over his shoulders.

 

Actually, most of his outfit was black, accentuated with silver metal and little flashes of a strange color that reminded Via of raspberries. His eyes were blue, like Via’s, but much, much darker. And he had absolutely, positively, without a shadow of a doubt, never set foot inside New Dragon Hall before.

 

_I would have remembered him. School’s been in session for six months, buddy- where have you been?_

 

“I’m sorry,” Governor Radcliffe, the Evil History teacher, sniffed, staring down his nose at the newcomer. “Who, may I ask, are you, young man?”

 

“Sorry,” the stranger said. “I’m new here.”

 

“Which does not answer my question. Who...are...you?”

 

The newcomer, completely ignoring the teacher, walked over to an empty desk in the front row and plopped down, leaning back and setting his feet on the desk, his hands clasped behind his head.

 

“Silas,” he said, answering Radcliffe’s question, but taking his sweet time to do it. “My name’s Silas.”

 

“Well, Silas, are you aware that you are late in the extreme?”

 

Silas offered the annoyed teacher a smirk that rivaled even Via’s father’s. “So is she,” he said, nodding at Via, who instantly felt herself flush.

 

“ _She_ ,” Radcliffe barked, “is a special case.”

 

Silas’ eyes widened. “A special case, huh?” He looked Via over, grinning. “Short...blue hair...freckles...no, no, no, don’t tell me, it’s on the tip of my tongue...ah, yes! This must be the Barrier Breaker, the famous Via.”

 

He winked at her, and in spite of herself Via felt her heart skip a beat. A strange sound came out of her mouth before she could stop it, and she quickly dropped her gaze to her desk. _Wow. Oh, wow. I think I just...giggled._

 

Wisely, the flustered teacher decided to drop the issue. Silas, in Via’s private opinion, was better at being evil than the majority of the students at New Dragon Hall.

 

She found herself sneaking glances at the handsome stranger as the class wore on, trying to figure him out. She knew that most villains named their kids things that sounded close to their own names, and that most kids dressed similarly to their parents, like Gavin’s affinity for dark red and Via’s for light blue.

 

_Silas, fond of raspberry and black. That’s ringing approximately zero bells._

 

She continued watching Silas all throughout the morning. There was a cockiness to him, an arrogance and self-certainty that appealed to Via somehow. He drove the teachers up the wall, and his only response to their frustration was a careless shrug and a smirk, as if he was saying _what are you gonna do about it?_

Silas, Via decided, was a genuine villain.

 

_I like that._

 

As soon as school ended she headed to her locker, piling her things back inside it and pulling out a small, dusty book bound in black leather. It was an old textbook, left over from Via’s day’s at the first Dragon Hall, the one on the Isle. The spidery grey lettering on the front cover read, **An Illustrated Compendium of Villains, Henchmen, and Miscreants.**

 

Via had never liked this book. It was supposed to list every villain on the Isle, but somehow she and her father had been completely passed over for inclusion in its pages. Now that she was here in Auradon, living the life she’d always dreamed of as a feared and respected young villainess, her family reunited and her revenge complete, she’d packed this book away along with the unpleasant memories it brought up, vowing never to look at it again.

 

Now she had to break that vow if she wanted to find out who the mysterious Silas was.

 

She pages through the many pictures of villains and their underlings, looking for any who shared traits with the mysterious stranger. A name that started with an S, a black or silver outfit, Silas’ hair, Silas’ eyes.

 

She found nothing. Whoever Silas’ villain parent- or parents, she added as an afterthought, because after all she had two evil parents herself- were, they had either not ranked very highly on the Isle totem pole, or there was something Via had overlooked.

 

“Why should this bug me so much?” she muttered to herself. “He’s just a boy.”

 

_A boy with an amazing smile, who winked at me and knows who I am and what I can do. A boy with beautiful eyes who acts like a real villain._

 

It startled her, the kind of thoughts she was thinking. Sappy, mushy, romantic thoughts like the ones Audrey and her crowd always seemed to have flooding their brains. Princess-y, damsel-ish thoughts that had absolutely no place in her fiendish little mind.

 

She looked up from her book and noticed Gavin, who was sitting across the room eating a sandwich. He caught her eye, and a puzzled look flitted across his face. He reached for his phone and tapped the screen rapidly. Seconds later, Via’s own phone, a gift from her mother, lit up.

 

**What’s with the book? You’re not actually studying, are you? We’re not supposed to do that anymore.**

 

Via quickly texted back.

 

**No, I’m not studying. Just researching something.**

 

**Alchemy things?**

 

**Nah. Just something I’m curious about, that’s all.**

 

She felt her cheeks redden and put her phone down quickly, trying to look intent on her book. She didn’t know why, but she didn’t want Gavin to know about her interest in the new student.

 

Something knocked the book out of her hands, breaking her concentration. She looked up, anger surging up inside her.

 

“Hey, what-“

 

She stopped. Silas sat across from her, grinning his Cheshire grin, fingers still raised from flicking the book from her hands. Via’s anger turned to surprise, and she flushed even redder.

“Silas! I-“

 

“So, what’s going on here?” he asked, his lips curving up even further. “Don’t tell me Via the Villainous actually cares about getting good grades like some hero?”

 

Via scoffed. “Not a chance. This is for personal use. You can be evil and still crack a book every once in a while, ya know.” _Via the Villainous. Gosh, I love the way that sounds._

 

Silas tipped his head to one side, his smooth voice half-amused and half-intrigued. “Sure. I guess that’s where the term ‘evil scientist’ came from. And from what I hear-“ he leaned forward, and his midnight eyes, glittering with just a hint of malice underneath, held Via’s like hands- “you’ve become the best one of _those_ out there. Quite an impressive accomplishment.”

 

“My dad’s always gonna have me beat in the evil science department,” Via said. “He taught me everything I know.”

 

“He wasn’t in Auradon when the barrier collapsed,” Silas said. “And he didn’t figure out how to break it. He said that was you. Give yourself a little credit.”

 

_If I get any redder, I’m gonna look like that stupid crab of Ariel’s. What is wrong with me?_

 

“Okay,” Via said aloud. “Yeah. The Isle- that was me. You’re welcome.”

 

“Much better,” Silas said. “You’re not one for taking compliments, are you?”

 

“Well, I haven’t gotten many over the years.”

 

“Really?” Silas hummed, tapping a finger against his chin. “So no one’s ever told you that you’ve done more in the name of villainy than any person in this book you’re reading?” He tapped the cover of the textbook. “No one’s ever said your name’s a legend all over Auradon, and not just in the central city?”

 

Via really needed to get herself a glass of water before her burning face literally caught on fire. She laughed, tucking her blue streak behind her ear.

 

“Nope,” she said. “I can’t say as they have.”

 

“Well,” Silas said, tapping his fingers on the table, “now someone has.” He gestured to Via’s book. “By the way, you never told me exactly what you’re doing reading this. You just said, “personal use,” which is pretty vague, don’tcha think? Care to tell a complete and total stranger what this latest scheme may be?”

 

_Oh, boy. No way I’m telling this guy that I was trying to find out who his parents are. It’s exactly what Mal did with me that one time, and look how I reacted._

 

“It’s no big deal,” she said out loud. “Just a little curiosity.”

 

“Mmm,” Silas said. “Let me guess. Somebody you can’t figure out?”

 

“You guessed it,” Via said, with an awkward, nervous laugh.

 

Silas laughed with her, easing the tension and making the whole conversation...well, less awkward. “Now who might this mysterious person be who has so completely captured your intrigue?” he mused, tilting his head comically to one side. “Clearly someone you’ve never seen before, someone who hasn’t crossed your path, and someone who wouldn’t be familiar to you after twenty years of hearing the Isle stories. Now I can think of only one person who matches that description. I’ll hazard a guess and say that the object of your curiosity may in fact be...me?”

 

Via looked down with another nervous laugh. “Right again,” she said. “I just had to find out who had actually beaten me when it comes to not giving a flying flip about school.”

 

“And what,” Silas asked, “have you determined so far?”

 

“Absolutely nothing,” Via said. “I’ll admit you’ve got me stumped.”

 

Silas threw back his head and laughed, low and soft. “You’re not the first girl to tell me that, sweetheart,” he said. “Trust me, the family name’s all about keeping people fooled. There’s a clue for you.”

 

Via nodded. Silas stood up, straightening his leather jacket over his shoulders.

 

“Well,” he said, with another of his ever-present grins. “It’s nice to meet you, Via of the Isle. I’ve very much enjoyed our conversation. Maybe we’ll talk again sometime.” He took a few steps from the table.

 

“Wait a minute!” Via called after him, and he turned back to face her.

 

“That’s it?” she asked. “You’re just going to walk away without even telling me who you are?”

 

Silas’ eyes flashed with mischief. He closed the distance between himself and Via, leaning down so that she could hear the hissing whisper that came from his lips.

 

“ _Don’t you wish you knew?”_

 

And with that, and a wink in her direction, he was gone. Via sat staring after him with her mouth hanging open, partly annoyed by his secretive behavior and partly captivated by the questions that surrounded him.

 

A voice beside her startled her, and she jumped.

 

“Well, I thought he’d never leave!” Gavin said, sliding into the chair beside her. “Close your mouth, Via, for evil’s sake, that expression looks moronic.”

 

Via reunited the two halves of her jaw as Gavin continued. “You and the new guy certainly seemed to hit it off. From what I saw, you were having quite an interesting conversation.”

 

“Yeah,” Via said absently. “Real interesting.”

 

“Any chance you could stop staring at him and walk home with me?” Gavin said. “Your mother made me promise I’d look out for you, and I would really not want to have _her_ mad at me.”

 

“Yeah,” Via said, standing mechanically and shoving her book into her backpack. “Yeah, sure.” She took a step forward.

 

“Via!” Gavin shouted exasperatedly. “The door is _this way_.”

 

“Sorry,” Via said, quickly correcting her course as Gavin sheperded her out the door with an expression of mock annoyance. As she trailed after him in the direction of their houses, Via cast one last glance back at the closed doorway of New Dragon Hall.

 

_I don’t know who you are, Silas, but you can bet I’m going to find out._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for those who are not fans of the romance stuff in this chapter. Believe me, I don’t like it too much either, but in this case it’s entirely plot relevant. So, who do you think the mysterious Silas is? Give me your best guess in the comments!


	3. I Promise

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A Friday night conversation leads to an awkward moment between Via and her parents- and a promise Via may not be able to keep.

Silas' arrival proved to be the only strange thing about that week. The rest of the school week passed just as it usually did- wild, uncontrollable students; teachers who, being villains, were both frazzled and pleased by their students' behavior; and school assignments that Via couldn't have cared less about. In some ways, it was almost exactly like Auradon Prep- a little more chaotic, a lot more evil, but structured in almost the exact same way.

  
Via, though she'd never particularly enjoyed school, had always been a better-than-average student. She had reached the point where she stopped paying attention in class most of the time, since she already knew most of the material. Ordinarily she would have scribbled down ideas for new experiments in her notebook, or gazed out into the distance, or daydreamed, or whatever she felt like doing.

  
This week, however, she had something different to focus on. She kept her eye on Silas, watching him closely, ready to pounce on the slightest clue he might drop as to his identity or his parentage. She had no idea why discovering his identity mattered so much to her, but it did, and she was determined not to fail in her quest. _I broke the barrier. I'll break his secret, too._

  
She learned several things about him. He was an excellent swordsman, able to beat most of the other VKs easily. He cut the crusts off of his sandwiches before he ate them. And he had attracted the attention of more than one teenage villainess (an observation that made Via feel a strange tightness in her chest, though she had no clue why).

  
Silas, for his part, seemed to know that Via was watching him. Once in a while during the school day he would look back at her with that small, sly smile and wink, as if to say _I know what you're trying to do._ A small part of Via actually liked the attention from him, oddly, but on the whole it just annoyed her, intrigued her, and made her more determined than ever to find out exactly who the mysterious Silas was.

  
It wasn't until she and Gavin Gothel parted ways at the street corner on Friday afternoon that Via finally made an effort to put Silas out of her mind. She quickened her pace as she approached her house, waking up Rudiger, who had been dozing contentedly on her shoulder.

  
Friday nights, for Via's family, were special. The three of them gathered in the living room after dinner and just...talked. Sometimes the conversations were serious and sometimes they had everyone laughing uproariously. Sometimes the subject matter was deep and personal, and other times it didn't really mean anything at all. The point was simply to grow closer to each other, to develop a semblance of normalcy.

  
Normal. That was a word Via heard a lot these days, and it was always a surprise when she did. The pursuit of vengeance was still very much a part of life in the new Auradon. Almost every day Maleficent sent out a dozen or so goblins to track down Aurora, Phillip and her own traitorous daughter ( _good luck, roomie,_ Via always thought, remembering the snobbish Audrey, who was now undoubtedly another target of Maleficent's wrath). Harry Hook and his pirates still combed the shores of Neverland, and Uma and Ursula kept a sharp lookout for mermaids in the waters.

  
But when all was said and done, when the war against goodness was over and vengeance was theirs, all the villains wanted was to be normal. The citizens of the Isle craved the regular life that Auradon was privileged to live; they wanted to live normally, to do what they wanted without restrictions, to raise their kids in a place that wasn't a prison. It wasn't the kind of desire Via had expected a bunch of miscreants and malcontents to have, but when she reflected back on her own Isle childhood, it made sense. After all the excitement of the barrier battle, normal was all she wanted too.

  
But normal, for her family, had been a difficult thing to establish, simply because of one thing. Lady Caine was back in their lives after fourteen long years. And as much as Via loved her mother, as thrilled as she was to have Caine back, it was hard to adjust to being part of a trio when she'd been half of a pair for so long.

  
She and Varian had had a perfect system going. They lived in tandem, each one in sync with the other. Half the time Via knew what Varian was thinking; half the time Varian knew what she was going to think before she even thought it. They'd had a long time to learn each other's ways inside and out; for the first six months it had been hard to find a place for Lady Caine in such a practiced, well-oiled system.

  
They had tried. Of course they had tried. During those first few months Via and Varian had gone out of their way to make Lady Caine feel like a part of the family- asking her opinion, listening to what she had to say, and generally trying to act as if she'd never left at all.

  
The experiment had failed. It had all seemed fake, forced, unnatural. And it was Lady Caine herself who, a few months earlier, had brought up the subject.

  
"Alright, you two," she had said, looking first at Via and then at Varian. "I think it's about time this whole thing stopped, don't you? This whole trying to spare my feelings, trying to pretend like I didn't leave for far longer than I should have? I'm done with it. It isn't working. I want to be a part of this family more than I think I've ever wanted anything else. But I want it to be real. So what I want the pair of you to do is live your lives just as you would if I wasn't here. That's it. Live your lives, and eventually a place for me will open up within them. We'll all adjust, together. Slowly. Baby steps."

  
After some debate, they had all agreed to the plan, and little by little it had started to work, until now things with Lady Caine around felt almost natural. But some of the baby steps, like the Friday night family nights, had been too good for anyone to want to give them up. Ordinarily Via looked forward to Friday nights, hearing Varian's latest experiments, Lady Caine's latest exploits to prevent the return of goodness, or sharing her experiences at school with her parents.

  
Tonight, however, as she curled up on the couch with Rudiger on her shoulder and a bowl of popcorn in her lap, things were different. She tried her best to pay attention, but her thoughts kept wandering elsewhere, remembering a pair of midnight-colored eyes with a glint of mischief.

  
"So," Lady Caine said, leaning forward and grabbing the TV remote. "You want to see what I've been dealing with this week?" She clicked a button on the remote, and a news channel flickered to life on the screen. For some reason Anastasia Tremaine had taken it upon herself to keep her fellow villains updated on recent events, and her nasal voice was currently droning on and on as a series of very interesting photographs flashed across the screen.

  
"Whoa," Varian said, raising an eyebrow as he stared at the picture of a large tree in Sherwood Forest, now covered in sharp spears of slowly melting ice. "The Ice Queen finally came out of hiding?"

  
"She didn't mean to. But somebody spotted her and her daughter sneaking through the forest and called me. As those photos prove, though, a bunch of pirates isn't really a great match for two people with ice powers."

  
"So they escaped?"

  
"For now, yeah. Nothing I could do to stop that. But I called Prince What's-His-Name and told him to get after it. Ya know, ever since Maleficent passed that "Your Nemesis, Your Problem" decree, my job's been a lot easier."

  
"I'd still keep an eye on that particular situation, though. Those two are powerful. No chance we could ever turn them to our side, either." Varian glanced over at his daughter. "Via, you went to school with Elsa's daughter, didn't you?"

  
Via, lost in her own thoughts, didn't even hear him. Varian's forehead wrinkled the way it did when something confused him.

  
"Via?" he repeated. "Uh, Via? Hello?"

  
"What?" Via glanced up quickly as Varian's voice brought her back to reality. "Sorry...I missed that."

  
"So I gathered," Varian said dryly. "What I asked was, you went to school with Elsa's daughter, didn't you?"

  
"Oh, yeah," Via said laconically. "Erika." She lapsed into silence again, staring off into space with a dreamy look on her face. Varian and Caine exchanged glances.

  
"Okay," Lady Caine said, snapping her fingers at Rudiger, who wandered over to perch on her lap. "Spill, Via. What's got you so distracted tonight?"

  
"Distracted?" Via gave a little laugh. "I'm not distracted!"

  
"Yes, you are," Varian said. "For two reasons. One, you are being uncharacteristically quiet. And two, you just giggled, which is something I didn't even know you were capable of doing. So yes. You're distracted. And since we're here to talk, why don't you tell us what you're thinking about?"

  
"It's nothing, Dad," Via said, feeling her face heat up. "There's this boy at school. That's all."

  
She might as well have said, _I woke up with seventy feet of magical glowing golden hair_ , because the silence that fell over the room was thick enough to cut with a knife.

  
Lady Caine, who, unlike Varian, had once been a teenage girl herself, was the first one to recover. "A boy at school," she repeated. "That's interesting. Oh, for evil's sake, wipe that look off your face, Vari."

  
"What look?" Varian protested.

  
"The one you have right now, where your mouth is making a little O shape and your eyes are popping out of your head like a bug on a windshield and you look like you're about to march over to New Dragon Hall and encase the aforementioned boy in booby trap gel. That look."

  
"Oh my gosh, Dad!" Via cried, sitting bolt upright. "It's not like that! I don't even know who he is! That's all I'm interested in with him- figuring him out, ya know? It's like a...challenge. But I don't, like, _like_ him, if you know what I mean."

  
"Then why are you the color of the Queen of Hearts' dress right now?"

  
"Because this is awkward!"

  
Lady Caine reached over and smacked Varian playfully on the arm. "Shush," she ordered. "It's not like that. But even if it was, Via, we'd support it, as long as you didn't go too far, because you're seventeen and this is a part of growing up. Right, Varian?"

  
There was no response from Varian, who was still in a state of shock.

  
"Right, Varian?" Lady Caine repeated, a little louder this time. He blinked, attempting to rearrange his face into an expression of approval and failing miserably. "Right," he said. "Of course. All part of growing up. Please start carrying one of those red-hot explosive balls to school with you at all times."

  
"Da-ad!"

  
"I'm sorry! It's a natural instinct of dads when their daughters say "There's this boy at school!" We start to get a little concerned!"

  
"You weren't concerned when I started hanging out with Gavin."

  
"Because as far as villains go Gavin's a good kid. Plus I know him, and his mother, and you never looked like _that_ when you were thinking about Gavin."

  
Via drew a long, over-dramatic sigh. "Fine. How about this. I carry one of the little explosive sphere thingies, and in exchange you don't bring this up again unless I initiate it, because really this is incredibly awkward."

  
Varian tilted his head to one side, considering her statement. "Okay," he said finally. "I can live with that."

  
"Thanks," Via said. "And there's nothing going on between me and Silas. I promise."

  
"Don't say that," Varian said pleadingly, only half joking. "You know how I do with promises."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this one's so late, guys! I spent the weekend WiFi-less on a vacation to Tennessee, so I wasn't able to post. However, to make up for it, I'll be posting the next chapter two days from now on Friday, so you won't have to wait long! 
> 
> And now, with this chapter, we have learned the fates of some of our characters. However, I only managed to introduce a small number of OCs in the last story, and this one gives us some room for more! So, at any point during this story, if you've got an OC of your own and you want to know their fate in the Via-verse, or there's a Disney character you're curious about, feel free to ask, "Hey, did the son or daughter of so-and-so stay good or go bad?" And I'll do my best to answer in the next chapter!
> 
> Also, what's your guys' impression of Silas? Can he be trusted? Whose kid is he? And is he, perhaps, the person with whom Via will find a villainous true love?


	4. Secrets and Lies

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Via and Silas have another enigmatic conversation, and Via finally learns something about his hidden family history.

Via drummed her fingers idly on her desk, not paying the slightest bit of attention to Yzma's wheedling voice as she went on and on about the science experiment the class would be doing today. Extract of Llama. Again.

  
Rudiger wasn't with her today. Varian had come down to breakfast on Saturday morning with the old, familiar glint in his eye. He'd spent the past three days down in the basement with Rudiger, working away on some new experiment. Via had no idea what it was; it was special, he'd told her, so special he had to keep it secret until he was finished. But there had certainly been some very interesting noises coming from the basement over the past few days. The ring of hammer on metal, Varian's half-coherent conversations with both himself and his raccoon, the bubbling of test tubes and beakers, and once a loud boom that sounded suspiciously like an explosion. Via and her mother had spent the last three mornings sitting at the breakfast table, staring in confusion at the closed basement door. Neither one asked any questions, though. It had been a long time since they'd seen Varian so excited about something.

  
Lady Caine had plenty to occupy her own time these days. The rest of the Arendelle heroes- the Ice Queen's younger sister, her husband, and their daughter- had been seen creeping through the remains of Camelot Heights. What had been seen as an isolated incident when only Elsa and Erika had shown themselves was now being viewed as something far more serious.

  
"They're planning something," Lady Caine had pronounced grimly. "It's no coincidence that every Arendelle hero showed up within days of each other, all heading in the same direction. Something's going on and I'm gonna find out what. And I can tell you one thing." A dark, cold look had crept into Caine's eyes as she flicked a finger along the edge of her sword. "When I get through, those heroes are going to wish they'd never come crawling back."

  
So, with both of her parents throwing themselves back into their respective tasks, Via had been left with only one thing to focus on. School. School, in all its boringness.

  
Finally Yzma finished over-explaining the experiment and allowed her students to partner up. Via stood up and swung her desk around, making a place for Gavin to sit down across from her. The pair of them always partnered up, since Gavin was hopeless when it came to science and liked having Via's help. Gavin did the simple tasks while Via took on the more complex work, and they both got a good grade out of the deal. The arrangement worked for both of them.

  
She rifled through her backpack to find her notebook, hearing Gavin slide into the desk across from hers. "I'm gonna need two bottles of that llama extract, Gavin," she said without looking up. "And that little purple vial on the back shelf."

  
A low laugh was her only answer. Her head jerked up, and she found herself looking into a pair of dark blue eyes with a very familiar smirk underneath them.

  
Silas reached out, setting down two bottles of llama extract and a small purple vial. "These?" he said. "Oh, did I startle you?"

  
"N-no," Via stammered. "It's okay. I thought you were someone else."

  
"I heard," Silas said. "Gavin, right? You two sure spend an awful lot of time together."

  
"Well, we live close to each other. And we usually pair up together for experiments and stuff. And we're both from the same kingdom. I mean, we're not from it, we're from the Isle, obviously, but our parents are, so..it just worked out that way."

  
For some reason, she didn't like the fact that Silas had noticed her and Gavin's friendship. She didn't know why she didn't like it, but when it came to Silas nothing made sense.

  
"Would you mind breaking tradition today?" Silas asked. "I'd consider it an honor to work with the one who broke the barrier."

  
A warm tingle traced its way up Via's spine. In that moment, Silas hadn't sounded snarky or enigmatic. He'd sounded gallant, and chivalrous, and he wanted to work with her. Here was the perfect chance to find out more about him, to try to solve the many puzzles and riddles that he seemed to be made of.

  
"Sure," she said. "I'm sure Gavin won't mind. Just for today." She glanced over at Gavin, watching her from across the room, and made a questioning gesture toward Silas. Gavin looked conflicted for a minute, but then shrugged and gave her a small smile, mouthing, _Go for it._

  
 _Thanks_ , Via mouthed back, and, unable to hide the wide smile that broke over her face, she turned back to Silas and began explaining what she wanted to do with the experiment.

  
Silas, she quickly discovered, was not like Gavin. True, he didn't know the first thing about the kind of science Via excelled at, but he was able to pick it up more quickly than Via had ever imagined was possible. He watched and listened to her attentively, almost as if she were the teacher, and by the end of the lesson he had nearly mastered the concept.

  
"So," he said, as he allowed a single drop to fall from the purple vial into the llama extract. "Does this count as alchemy?"

  
"Not quite," Via replied. "This is just plain science. Alchemy's different. With science, you take a bunch of things and mix them together. With alchemy, you take a bunch of things that aren't anything by themselves, and you make something new out of them, something no one's ever thought of before. Like this." She fished in her little black purse to find the glass sphere that turned things red-hot when it exploded. (She carried one to school with her every day, as she'd promised). "I invented this. Careful. You don't want it to break in your hands, trust me."

  
She transferred the tiny glass sphere gingerly from her own fingers to Silas’, watching the rust-colored liquid inside slosh back and forth. Silas stared down at her creation, a look of wonder in his eyes.

  
“What does it do?” he asked softly.

  
“This one explodes, turns anything it touches flaming hot. I have others.” She shrugged her shoulders, pushing her hair back behind her ear. “Call it a hobby.”

  
“Wow.” Silas carefully handed the little sphere back to her, and she tucked it carefully away. “Does your dad make these, too?”

  
“Not as much as he used to. He’s needed for bigger projects nowadays, but on the Isle we both had a lot of time on our hands. So we made these together, just little capsules that do different things. Nothing like what he used to make back in Corona, but I still thought they were cool even when I was a little kid. We must have made hundreds.”

  
“I can believe it. Everyone knows Varian’s a genius. I’d love to see more of these some time.”

  
Via’s heart leapt. Besides Varian, she’d never had someone take an interest in the work she did, her experiments, her inventions. Lady Caine wasn’t the evil-scientist type, and the technical aspects of alchemy went way over Gavin’s head. Via had never had any other friends to share her work with.

  
“Really?” she said. “I mean, you don’t have to pretend to be interested. If it’s not your thing...”

  
“It’s not,” Silas said. “But it’s your thing. And I like you, Via. I like you a lot. If something matters to you, than it matters to me. So yeah, I want to see more of these.”

  
Via barely heard him, barely heard his kind, reassuring words. She was captured by the words that had come just before those, words that sent a shiver up her spine.

  
_I like you, Via. I like you a lot._

  
Of course he didn’t mean that he _liked_ her. It was a friendly thing, a school acquaintance-ship, like what she had with Gavin. But Silas seemed to live in such a world apart, a kingdom of his own, never entirely part of the normal villainous crowd, that Via had never thought she might be invited into that world. Silas was different. Silas was special. She knew that without a shadow of a doubt.

  
But if someone had asked her how she knew it, how she could possibly know, she would not have been able to answer.

  
Silas was talking again, and Via forced herself back to reality, focusing on his question.

  
“From what I’ve seen of these inventions of yours, Via, they’re giving away quite a lot about you. Crystal-forming amber, magic-shattering liquid, red hot death globes that explode- do you only invent weapons?”

  
“Mostly. I mean, I did on the Isle, because what else was there besides revenge? I used to dream of ripping Auradon apart with my little creations.”

  
Silas raised an eyebrow. “Yeah,” he said slowly. “That’s one you can definitely cross off the bucket list.”

  
Via giggled. “I do other things, too, though. Booby traps, truth serum, anything I want, really. Whatever helps me stay evil. This one time, I came up with this potion that turned all the water in the water fountain bright green and made it all taste like a mouthful of pennies when you drank it. I only drank soda for a week straight, but it was so worth it to watch how annoyed everyone else got.”

  
“Ooh, practical jokes.” Silas nodded appreciatively, and Via, seeing an opportunity to learn more about him, pounced on it.

  
“Is that another thing your mysterious family excels in?” she asked innocently. “Trickery?”

  
Silas, unsurprisingly, saw right through her. “Clever, clever,” he teased, shaking a finger at her. Then he tilted his head to one side, pretending to consider something.

  
“But on the other hand, you have been very obliging today, giving me so much information, letting me learn so very much about you. I suppose I can meet you halfway. Yes, trickery is very much in my blood. Not like practical jokes, though- more like deception, making something seem like something else. Lying. In a word, that’s what it is. There, now you know something about me. I’m a liar. Don’t trust a word I say.” The last phrase was said with such a comically sinister expression that Via couldn’t help but laugh.

  
“Duly noted,” she said. They fell silent for awhile, getting back to work on the hopelessly dull science experiment for what little remained of the class period.

  
Finally, just a few minutes before the bell rang, Silas spoke up again. “You know I meant what I said, Via,” he said. “I really do want to see more of what you can do. You’re brilliant. Truly brilliant.”

  
Via felt her face flush, and she reached up to fiddle with the blue streak in her hair. “You’re just saying that,” she said. “You already told me you’re a liar.”

  
“Maybe,” Silas said. “But I’m not lying now. Are you free any time next week? I’d love to stop by, just for a little while, and have a look at your inventions.”

  
_Oh my gosh. Silas wants to see my inventions._

  
“Sure,” Via said, hoping she sounded less dumbstruck than she felt. “Uh, Thursday. I...I’m free Thursday.”

  
“Great!” Silas said. “Can I come over, maybe three in the afternoon? We can just hang out for a little while, get to know each other a little better outside of school.”

  
“S-sounds awesome,” Via stammered, grateful that the bell rang at that exact moment, giving her an excuse to end the conversation before her fluttering heart became actually audible.

  
It was only later, once she was walking home beside Gavin, out from under those spell-binding berry-blue eyes, that she thought about something Silas had said.

  
“ _Giving me so much information, letting me learn so very much about you...”_

  
In that moment she understood. She wasn’t the only one looking for information. Silas was searching too, trying to find out something about her.

  
But unlike him, she hadn’t hidden anything. As far as she knew she had no secrets left.

  
So what was Silas looking for?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well? Any of my lovely readers care to answer that question with their best guess? What is Silas’ endgame?
> 
> Also, shout-out to Real_Nola_LaRue, whose OC Kristina was inducted into the Via-verse in this chapter. I just couldn’t see Anna’s daughter going anywhere but Arendelle, so if Kristina was in the Via-verse, I’d say she’d stand by her family.
> 
> Got an OC of your own, or a Disney character you’re curious about? Let me know in the comments!
> 
> (Also, if anyone caught my little musical Easter egg in this chapter’s title, I applaud you wholeheartedly. Once a musical nerd, always a musical nerd).


	5. A Letter from the Author

Hello lovely readers! Before I say anything else, I want to thank you all from the bottom of my little writerly heart for all the love and support that you’ve given me and Via since our favorite junior alchemist was released on the world. You guys are the ones who keep me going; it’s for you that I write my stories and nothing makes me happier than seeing you enjoy them, reading your comments and chatting with you guys.

 

There’s been a bit of confusion over a certain issue in the past few days. All I’m going to do in this letter is clear some things up to alleviate any confusion so that we can all, hopefully, put this behind us. 

 

You may have come across a story, published here on Archive of Our Own, entitled “In Cold Blood” by Rebel_On_The_Rise. And if you’ve read this story, and felt like some aspects of it were a little familiar...well, it’s because they are. 

 

What this person has decided to do is write the story of Erika, Elsa’s daughter. This person has indeed read Via’s story; they even left an encouraging comment on one of the chapters. So there’s no doubt that this is the same, or at least a similar, Erika. Now, Erika’s not my main OC, and I don’t really care whether someone uses her, but I did reach out to the writer of this story to ask what they planned to do.

 

This writer shared her plot line with me in great detail. Essentially, this writer has decided that, in her story, Erika will go VK for undefined reasons and freeze Auradon Prep. Besides being entirely out of place within the Via-verse canon, this obviously makes Via’s own journey a complete waste. If Auradon Prep miraculously comes back, and is destroyed by a different VK, than what good was anything Via did? For obvious reasons, this has led to more than a little confusion among those who have read both stories, especially since the plot line does not match up with the events of Via’s sequel story.

 

Again, I don’t mind this writer, or anyone else, using Erika. Erika is just a supporting cast member in my story; if someone wants to run with her, they’re welcome to do so. If you’ve been reading my work for any length of time, you know that I actually invite people to use my original characters freely. The only exception is Via, who as my protagonist warrants some special treatment. But even Via is open to anyone’s use- I just ask that any writer who chooses to use her emails me first, given that she is my main character and continuity within her story is very important. But trying to write a story that is supposed to take place in my story’s _universe,_ the universe I created? That I can’t allow, especially knowing that the plot line this author intends to write contradicts established facts of the original story.

 

Unfortunately, there’s not a lot I can do about this. It’s fanfiction; anything is free reign. All I can do is let my readers know what’s going on. So if you decide to read “In Cold Blood,” please do not consider part of the Via-verse canon. I know this may be slightly confusing, and I wish the discrepancy wasn’t there, but there’s nothing I can do about it except thank those of my readers who have been encouraging, kind and considerate in their enjoyment of the story I’ve created. I’m not trying to be mean, or tyrannical, or anything like that; I’m just asking for those little pieces of me called characters, and their stories, to be used respectfully.

 

However, the existence of a similar story will not change this one at all. I intend to go on writing this universe just the way I want to. I’ll continue telling Via’s story, and the stories of her supporting cast, the way they should be told in the tale I started out to tell. 

 

So thank you, lovely readers, for all your kindness and support of me since Via’s story started. Don’t worry at all about the future of this story. Via and I are going to go on just the way we always have.

 

And you know what? We’re both gonna be just fine.

 

Love,

SilverQuill

 


	6. The Problem with Pirates

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> New orders from Maleficent turn the lives of Via and her family upside down and inside out, forcing them all to make a difficult decision.

Via found herself on cloud nine for the rest of that day, tingling all over both from Silas’ compliments and her anticipation of Thursday. She walked ahead in her own little world all the way home, leaving a very confused and anxious Gavin Gothel trailing behind her.

 

She only came back to reality walking up the front steps of her house. Her forehead wrinkled in confusion, and she quickened her pace.

 

There were voices coming from inside the house. Her parents’ voices. Her parents’ very angry-sounding voices.

 

_What the..._

 

“Dad?” Via called out, concern tightening her voice. “Mom?”

 

The voices only grew louder as she walked through the hallways and into the kitchen. She stopped short.

 

Varian had emerged from the basement. He sat on one side of the table, looking like he had in the old days- grease staining his sleeves, goggles pushed up over his black, blue-streaked hair, Rudiger curled around his shoulders. His arm was extended across the table, Lady Caine’s hand clasped in his own.

 

As for Lady Caine herself, she had a long, evil-looking curved scimitar sitting in front of her as if she was just waiting to use it. Her other hand, with its long, slender fingers, tapped relentlessly on the tabletop in a sharp staccato pattern that fairly screamed annoyance.

 

“Come on, Caine,” Varian was protesting. “We just got you back. We just figured out how to make this work, and now you want to leave again?”

 

“I don’t want to. You know I don’t want to, but I don’t have a choice. If I tell her no I will end up as a tiny black pile of ashes faster than you can say “Maleficent doesn’t take no for an answer!” Just like Corona. Is that what you want?”

 

“”No, no, of course not. I just wish...ugh, why did I hand control of this place over to her?”

 

“Because you’re the one who would have been blasted out of existence if you hadn’t. Look, it’s just for a month at the most. I’ll be back quicker than you know it and then we’ll get things back to normal...again.”

 

Varian drew a long sigh. “I know, I know. And if it were just me I’d be fine with it, Caine. But it’s not! I’m just...what about Via? She barely knows you, and she’s just starting to get to a place where she’s comfortable with you. We’re just starting to be a family again, and now...”

 

“Now I’ve got to leave again. I know. It sucks. And I wish it could be different, but I just don’t see any other way. I’m sure Via...”

 

“Is standing right here,” Via interrupted. “Mom, Dad...what’s going on? Is something wrong?”

 

Varian and Caine exchanged glances. With another heavy sigh, Varian leaned over and pulled out another chair.

 

“Hey, honey,” he said, with the tense shadow of his real smile. “Yeah, something’s wrong. Why don’t you have a seat, and your mother and I will explain.”

 

Feeling a cold fist of worry clutching at her heart, Via sat. Rudiger scampered across the table and up her sleeve, burying his paw in her ponytail.

 

Lady Caine was the first one to break the thick silence. “You remember what we saw on TV a few weeks ago, Vi?” she asked. “The Arendelle heroes?”

 

Via nodded.

 

“Yeah. Well, it turns out that it’s not just them. I haven’t heard about it, since everyone’s pretty much taking care of their own nemeses now, which just leaves me the random townsfolk and singing animals and rogue mermaids. But eventually we- me and the other people who are in charge of making sure good stays gone- started putting the pieces together. They’re planning something. The Auradonians, I mean. Almost every single hero who hasn’t been-“ she coughed- “accounted for by their respective villain has been spotted on the move recently. It’s all very secretive and very strategic. Nobody knows what they’re up to. But it’s getting more serious. At first it was just the lesser heroes, the dwarves and gnomes and sidekicks. Then a couple princesses and an AK or two. But then they kicked it up a notch. Harry Hook’s lookout thought he saw a purple dragon flying over the cliffs last week.”

 

Via’s fists clenched. _Mal_.

 

“What does that have to do with you, Mom?” she asked. “I mean, just let everyone take care of their own enemies like you’ve been doing. Maleficent’s the one who’s gotta worry about her spoiled little princess.”

 

“I wish that were the case, Vi,” Lady Caine said. “Unfortunately, though, as of this morning we’re officially dealing with something a little more concerning.”

 

“Namely, fairies,” Varian put in.

 

There was a long moment of silence. And then Via burst out laughing.

 

“ _Fairies_?” she said incredulously. “Like, the little tiny fairies who follow Peter Pan around jabbering in jingle-bell language?”

 

“Yes,” Varian said. “Those fairies. Unfortunately, they also happen to be extremely powerful magic users whose most recent goal is swarming our borders and putting the barrier back up.”

 

Via blinked. “The barrier? The same barrier that’s collapsed in a pile of crystal shards right now? Can they even do that?”

 

“Given time, they can figure it out,” Lady Caine said. “And, once the barrier’s back up, all of the dark power that was released when you broke the stupid thing will be sealed up again. Leaving most of the villains powerless. From there it’ll be an easy matter to snap us all right back to the Isle as if nothing you and your father did ever happened.”

 

“Permanently this time,” Varian added.

 

Anger bubbled up inside Via, hot and dark and overwhelming.

 

“They can’t just do that!” she burst out. “It’s not fair! They were just handed their happy endings, and now that I’ve actually put in the work to earn mine, they want to take it away again! Why doesn’t good ever just _give up?_ ”

 

“Because they’ve always won in the past,” Varian said. “So they think they always deserve to win in the future.”

 

“We’re not going to let that happen,” Lady Caine said. “Trust me on that. But, unfortunately, that means I’m going to be busy. Maleficent’s ordered my crew and me to put a stop to the whole fairy issue by going to the root of the problem.”

 

“Which is?” Via asked. Caine rolled her eyes.

 

“Where else?” she replied. “Neverland. Apparently there’s a few fairy nests we didn’t quite manage to weed out. I always did say Harry Hook and his father were better at applying overdramatic guyliner than they are at hunting down Tinkerbell and the rest of the pixie spawn.”

 

“So you’re leaving,” Via said. “Again.”

 

“I don’t have a choice this time, Via,” Lady Caine answered. “There’s no one else on my crew competent enough to handle an important task like that. So I’m stuck between a rock and a hard place.”

 

Suddenly Varian’s eyes lit with an idea. “Maybe you’re not,” he said. “Maybe there’s another way. Caine, why does Maleficent want you, in particular, on this task?”

 

“From what she said, it’s because I’m a pirate,” Lady Caine said. “She thinks every pirate is a carbon copy of Captain Hook. I’m a pirate, ergo, I must know exactly how to handle fairies. Therefore, I’m perfect for the job.”

 

“In reality, though, you don’t have much experience with fairies at all.”

 

“No, not really. What in the world are you getting at, Vari?”

 

“Hear me out on this. Maleficent wants you on the job because she thinks you’re the one best qualified for it. But what if you found someone else to take over, someone who was much more experienced with handling the type of problem you’ll be facing? It’d be moronic of her to insist you be the one to go after that.”

 

“It would,” Lady Caine said slowly, “but we don’t have anyone experienced with fairy problems.”

 

“Actually, you do,” Varian answered. “Me.”

 

Lady Caine’s mouth dropped open. Via couldn’t hold back a little gasp. Even Rudiger squeaked.

 

“Now, hold on,” Varian said quickly. “I don’t know the first thing about fairies, per se. We all know that. But if I remember correctly, the fairies and I do have one thing in common.” He gestured to the haphazard science equipment scattered around the house. “Alchemy.”

 

“Alchemy?” Via repeated. “Fairies do alchemy?”

 

“Uh, it’s...rudimentary. Amateurish at best. Mainly just adding different ingredients to pixie dust to change its abilities, but it is, technically, alchemy, and the thing the fairies are most likely to use in trying to put the barrier back up. So here’s what we do. We tell Maleficent that I’m better suited for the task. I’ll head to Neverland with your men, Caine, and ask for the Hooks and their crew to tag along. They can deal with the fairy portion of things and I’ll take care of the alchemy bit. We’ll have everything handled in a month at most, like you said. And meanwhile, you can spend some time with the daughter you barely know.”

 

Via watched her mother’s face closely as Varian explained the idea. The emotion that leapt to Lady Caine’s eyes could only be described as hope, as if she had wished for a way out like this to present itself and could barely believe that it actually had. But all the same, once Varian had finished she shook her head stubbornly.

 

“It’s a good plan, a very good plan, but...no. I can’t ask that of you, Vari. You’re the one Via’s closest to-“

 

“Which is exactly why you shouldn’t be the one to leave.”

 

“Even if you did go, you’d never control my crew! You’re a thinker, a scientist. You’re not cut out to be a pirate! The kind of men I work with need someone tough enough to keep them in line.”

 

“I’ll blow some things up with alchemy. Put on a show. I know how to instill fear when I want to, Caine; I am a villain, after all.”

 

“You get horrifically seasick! Don’t you remember what happened on that ship that one time, during the thunderstorm-“

 

“One, you swore never to mention that again. Two, it won’t be a problem. I’ll mix up an anti-seasickness tonic or something.”

 

Varian reached across the table again and squeezed Lady Caine’s arm. “Come on,” he said gently. “It ought to be me and you know it.”

 

Lady Caine didn’t reply. Varian turned to his daughter.

 

“Well, Via?” he said. “I’d like to hear your thoughts on this, too. What do you say to my leaving for a month or so?”

 

Via didn’t answer for a moment, trying to gather her twisted, tangled thoughts and shut down that little voice that stubbornly screamed _please don’t leave me._

 

“I wish,” she said at last, “that nobody had to leave. I wish good had the sense to just lay down and _die_ already. But since they don’t, since we don’t have a choice, I agree with you, Dad. Mom should be the one who stays, since she’s the one who’s been gone so long.”

 

Lady Caine opened her mouth to interrupt, but Via held up a hand. “Please, Mom,” she said. “I’ve barely gotten any time with you. You’ve already left once; if you leave again I don’t know if I’ll be...willing to accept you back for awhile. But Dad and I have been together so long that I’ll be fine for a month- but _just_ a month- without him. I’m not trying to play favorites, but that’s just the way it is.”

 

“Caine?” Varian pressed gently, and his wife drew a long sigh.

 

“You both make a convincing argument,” she said. “I agree with Via in that I wish this didn’t have to happen at all, but as long as it does, and as long as this is what the two of you want, I won’t say anything against it. I don’t have to like it, but...I’ll let it happen anyway.”

 

“It’s agreed, then,” Varian said. “I’m going to Neverland.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What are you doing, SilverQuill? This has become a hot mess of drama and Disney cameos and awkward musical references and now you’re TAKING VARIAN AWAY FROM US?!
> 
> No, no I am not. I promise, there’s a plot line in here somewhere and it will start to reveal itself very soon. Also, Varian will only be gone for a few chapters. One of the twists that went over really well in the first Via story was the introduction of Lady Caine as her mother. Right along with that, the thing that readers most wanted to see more of was Via’s relationship with her mother. So for the next little bit, we’ll be focusing mainly on that. Just...just trust me on this one, okay? I really do know what I’m doing.
> 
> Ish. Maybe. Kinda. Probably not.


	7. Family Farewells

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The date of Varian’s departure finally arrives...as does some much-needed information about Silas.

It was funny how quickly life could spiral out of control. In some ways, the outside ways, everything stayed normal, but on the inside everything was tossing and turning like a surging storm.

 

Via’s words to her mother had been brave words. But that was all they were. Just words. Silly, empty, meaningless words. She didn’t want to lose Lady Caine, even for a month, so soon after her mother’s return. But neither did she want to lose Varian. For the entirety of her life her father had been with her, right by her side. It was Varian who had shown her what her purpose was, who had taught her everything she knew and orchestrated everything that had ever held any importance to her. Even in Auradon she had had those precious weekly moments with him to reorient and guide her, to make sure she never lost sight of the goal.

 

Now, for the first time in her life, she wouldn’t have him at all. He would be far away in the wild reaches of Neverland where magic ran in the very air and anything might happen. Though she never expressed her fears to Lady Caine, much less to Varian, she worried that her father wouldn’t return at all, that this was all some sort of elaborate game that good was playing to retake Auradon.

 

But for her parents’ sake, she put on a brave face. She kept up her experiments, working even further with the truth serum she’d set out to improve so many months before. She went to school as usual, with Rudiger on her shoulder and Gavin at her side.

 

But her heart just wasn’t in it anymore. Everyone in New Dragon Hall noticed the change in her, and there was much speculation as to the cause of it. Via no longer thought up new ways to torment the classmates she particularly disliked. Nor did she show up thirty minutes late; instead she was the first one there and the first one to leave, as if she couldn’t wait to get the day over with. She barely said two words to Gavin, and it wasn’t until Wednesday afternoon that she thought at all of Silas.

 

The idea of his visit, of getting to share the experiments and inventions that had come to life in her mind, no longer held any excitement for her. It was Varian who had put those ideas in her head and taught her how to make them into realities.

 

But she didn’t want to share those feelings with a stranger. So, telling Gavin to go ahead without her, she ripped a piece of paper from her notebook and scrawled a simple, impersonal message on it.

 

_Rain check on Thursday...family stuff. Reschedule later._

 

Then she walked down the hall, scanning the rows of lockers until she found the one that belonged to Silas. Folding the note up, she poked it through the slats in the door and began pushing it through.

 

“Well, well, well.”

 

The unexpected voice from behind her startled her for a moment, but by now she knew whose it was. She turned around to meet Silas’ mischievous grin.

 

“What might you be doing snooping around my locker, sweetheart?” he asked. “Looking for secrets? Trying to find out who I am?”

 

“No,” Via said. “Just giving you a message.”

 

Silas quirked an eyebrow, as if to say he didn’t believe her, then nudged her out of the way and clicked open the lock, swinging open the door.

 

There wasn’t much in his locker at all. His textbooks, stacked in a disorderly pile on the shelf; a pencil case, a few crumpled school assignments, and a long, curved dagger with jewels in the hilt. Now it was Via’s turn to raise an eyebrow. _Nice. I’m pretty sure those aren’t allowed at school._

 

But other than that, Silas’ locker was bare and impersonal. Except for Via’s letter lying on the floor.

 

Silas reached in and picked it up, rapidly scanning the contents.

 

In just a few seconds his expression changed from one of mischief to one of concern.

 

“Family stuff?” he asked. “Is everything alright?”

 

Via drew in a long sigh. “It’s nothing major,” she said. “Maleficent’s sending my dad to Neverland to deal with the fairies. Apparently they’re trying to put the barrier back up. It was supposed to be my mom, but my dad didn’t want her to leave so soon after she’d come back to us, so he’s taking her place."

 

“Varian’s going to Neverland?” Silas repeated. “Caine I could see, since she’s a pirate, but what’s Varian gonna...oh, I get it. The alchemy thing. He’s going armed, right?”

 

“Yeah,” Via said. “He was at the docks this morning while the crew loaded up half a dozen crates of assorted alchemical weapons. I have no idea exactly what he’s taking, but he’s well prepared.”

 

“It sounds like he’s always prepared,” Silas said. “He’s leading the mission alone?”

 

Via laughed. “Oh, heck no. It’s a whole raiding party. Captain Hook and Harry and their crew and I think I heard something about Harry’s little sisters, which I didn’t know he had. Plus my mother’s crew and probably Uma and Gil’s crew, too.”

 

Silas blinked. “The whole pirate fleet, huh?”

 

“If two ships count as a fleet. They’re taking the Jolly Roger and my mom’s ship.”

 

“Caine’s got a ship?”

“Stole one from a random pirate on the Isle. Named it the _Blood Rose.”_

 

“Accurate. When do they leave?”

 

Via sighed again. “Friday,” she said.

 

Silas’ eyes flooded with concern. “That soon? You’re right, we should cancel Thursday. You should take as much time with your dad as you can before he leaves. We can reschedule sometime after that, no problem.”

 

“Thanks,” Via said gratefully. “I wasn’t sure you’d understand.”

 

“Of course I do.” Silas put a hand on her shoulder. “You know, I don’t get a lot of time with my family. I never see my grandpa, which is...probably for the best, actually. But my mom- well, I’ve always been close to her, but I barely see her anymore. We’re both just too busy. And if there’s one thing I’ve learned, it’s this: if you can spend time with your family, do it. You never know how much more time you’re gonna have. But, just so you know, as far as family goes, that’s all you’ll learn about mine.”

 

He flipped Via’s note over, wrote something down on the back of it, and handed it back to her. “That’s my number. If you need somebody to talk to, or if you just need someone to listen, you call me, alright? I’ll be there for you.”

 

“Wow,” Via said softly. “Thank you, Silas. That means a lot.”

 

“No problem,” Silas said.

 

Suddenly he reached out, taking her hand in his, gazing into her eyes with his own midnight blue ones.

 

Slowly, gently, he raised her hand to his lips and kissed it. “I look forward to seeing your inventions, Via,” he said. “When the time is right.”

 

And with that, he was gone, leaving Via standing in the hallway with a blush in her cheeks and a sudden, soothing warmth in her heart.

 

 

 

 

"Careful with that!" Varian shouted. "Shake it around too much and you'll blow us all to kingdom come!"

 

Varian, as he'd predicted, had had no trouble in bringing Lady Caine's crew under his sway. A violent green explosion accompanying his entrance on board the _Blood Rose_ had ensured that the crew regarded him with a strange mix of fear and admiration- just the way he liked it.

 

Friday morning, for all of Via's wishing otherwise, had finally arrived, and quite a crowd, including Caine and Via, as well as Gavin and his mother, had gathered at the docks to see her father off. Everyone knew, now, what the remnant heroes were up to, and Varian had become known as their champion against good's cause. Suddenly the young alchemist, so long overlooked on the Isle, had become someone to look up to, someone idolized and used as an example of what a villain should be, someone second only to Maleficent herself.

 

In different circumstances, Via would have been ecstatic about that. But the sudden attention, which she had once craved, now meant only that her father was leaving her. _Get it together_ , she ordered herself. _It's just a month. And it's for evil, anyway- I should be proud._

 

She was proud. She was as proud of her father as he was of her. But she could not shake the strange foreboding that hung over her.

 

"Well, that's the last of it," Varian said, as the clumsy sailor who'd almost dropped a barrel of random alchemical weapons steadied it and moved below deck. "Time to go."

 

Mother Gothel was the first to move forward, shaking back her wild mane of curls as she wrapped her arm around Varian in a slightly awkward embrace. "So brave of you, darling," she declared. "Heading all the way off to that terrible wild place. Well, don't you worry about a thing- I'll keep an eye on things while you're gone. Make sure Caine has someone to talk to."

 

"I appreciate that," Varian said, stepping back. "And Gavin, you watch out for Via for me, alright?"

 

Gavin nodded. "Sure. Yep. Of course. No problem. I mean, uh, yes sir." In spite of herself, Via couldn't suppress a small smile at his awkward bumbling.

 

Lady Caine stepped forward, placing her hands on her husband's shoulders. She stood tall, with her old confident smirk on her face, but Via caught the glimmering sheen in her eyes. "Be careful," she said. "And put those fairies in their place, you hear me? Teach good that their happy ending isn't coming back. Been there and done that."

 

She pressed her lips to his for a long moment, long enough for both Gavin and Via to look away with the obligatory teenage eyeroll as the mushiness went on. And then she stepped back, gesturing to Via.

 

Varian knelt down, holding out his arms to her, and Via ran into them without a second's hesitation, swallowing the lump in her throat as Varian wrapped his arms around her, stroking her hair.

 

"Oh, sweetheart," he said softly. "I wish I didn't have to do this, honey. I wish-"

 

"Just promise me you'll come back," Via said. "Promise me."

 

"That may not be the best idea," Varian replied, with a little laugh. "I've had a lot of promises broken in my day, remember?"

 

"Which is how I know you'll keep yours," Via said.

 

"That's fair," Varian said. "Alright, Via. I promise." He pulled her in close, laughing as Rudiger scampered across her shoulders to paw at his face."You too, buddy."

 

For a long moment they stayed there together, neither one wanting to break the spell that had fallen over the moment. But at last Varian pulled back, squeezing Via's hand as he stood up. She stepped back, and he turned and walked up the gangplank of the _Blood Rose_ , turning around once or twice to smile at her as he went. The sails of the ship unfurled, the commands of the crew rang out, the anchor lifted, and the _Blood Rose_ began its journey out of the harbor with a thousand cheers and goodbyes still echoing through the air. Via stood with Gavin beside her and her mother's hand on her shoulder, waving wildly until Varian's figure on the deck was just a shadow in the distance. Silence dropped over the crowd, and one by one the people turned away, heading back to their lives as the _Blood Rose_ vanished over the horizon, leaving only Via, Caine, Gavin and Gothel standing on the dock.

 

"Why do I feel," Lady Caine said, her voice barely more than a whisper, but loud in the sudden stillness, "as if something is about to happen?"

 

"Something good?" Via asked. "Or...something bad?"

 

"I don't know," Lady Caine replied. "I just don't know."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’m not dead!!! Just spent a week at summer camp, sadly WiFi-less. But I’m back, with more of this whole crazy adventure. We finally get some hints as to Silas’ parentage...did it change any of your guesses? And what do you think might go down in Neverland? Is it a trap? (Insert Star Wars memes here).
> 
> Now, I do have an interesting question for y’all. I need your help deciding something very important...
> 
> Via’s last name. No, not for this story; I was recently asked to join a Descendants roleplaying group and we all know there’s only one character I’d even consider bringing. But in order to do that, Via needs a last name. So what do y’all think it should be?


	8. So That’s How It Is

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Via and Lady Caine adjust to life while Varian’s away, and Via makes steps in her friendships with both Gavin and Silas...but a sudden announcement from the evil teachers may change everything.

Via’s anxious mood didn’t improve once Varian had left. She didn’t say much over the weekend and barely picked at her food, worry stealing away her appetite. She couldn’t put her finger on exactly what was wrong, but something about the Neverland trip just wasn’t sitting well. It was as Lady Caine had said; something was about to happen, and there was no way to know what that something was until it took place.

 

Unfortunately, Lady Caine also had a determination to keep going no matter what the circumstances, built up over years of thievery and piracy. So when her seventeen-year-old daughter failed to make her appearance at the breakfast table on Monday morning, Caine put her foot down.

 

“Come on, Via,” she said, rapping with her fist on the closed door. “I’m not gonna have you moping around all month just because your father’s gone. I know what you’re feeling, I’m worried about him too, but we’ve got to put that aside as best we can. The other villains need to see us being strong and bold and just as wicked as we are when he’s here. We’re important public figures now, thanks to you, and you’ve got a responsibility to be one of the most evil villains New Dragon Hall has ever seen.”

 

Her little speech was rewarded by a thud and a soft cry of “ouch!” that meant Via had either rolled or fallen out of bed. Caine pushed open the door, smiling as she saw a pajama-clad and very disheveled Via struggling to untangle herself from a heap of blankets, sheets and one startled raccoon.

 

“I just don’t feel like it,” Via complained. “I’ve got that feeling, like you said, that something’s gonna happen. And I don’t like it.”

 

Caine moved forward and perched on the edge of her daughter’s bed, reaching down to rescue an anxious Rudiger from the unorganized mess of bedding on the floor. “I know, Via,” she said. “Believe me, I don’t feel good about this either. But would your father want us to go into a tailspin just because he took off for a month?”

 

“No.”

 

“That’s right. He’d want us to keep going just as if everything was normal, to keep everything running the way it should be and make him proud even though he’s not here.”

 

“Keep everything running the way it should be?” Via repeated. “Isn’t that Maleficent’s job?”

 

Lady Caine waved a hand dismissively. “Technically, yes. If you’re talking about the boring everyday stuff like keeping everyone in line and making sure there aren’t too many murders and that no one’s trying to overthrow her glorious reign. But you and I, we’ve got a different job- making sure everyone remembers three very important things.” She held up one finger at a time as she spoke. “One, that everyone knows that any heroes who step out of line are gonna have to deal with me and they won’t like what happens, so there’s no need to worry about an Auradonian resurgence any time soon. Two, that your father is a genius and everyone on the Isle made a serious mistake by underestimating him. And three, that you, Via, are the most evil VK this kingdom has ever seen, and anyone who thinks otherwise now that your father’s gone has got another thing coming. You’re gonna get out there and show them that a little thing like this isn’t gonna keep you down for long.”

 

Via giggled in spite of herself. “Okay, Mom. I’ll try. Maybe I’ll lace a few school lunches with truth serum if anyone decides I’m less of a villain with Dad gone.”

 

“Truth serum?” Lady Caine glanced at the experiment that had now sprawled out to cover every inch of Via’s desk. “Ah. So you managed to improve it, then?”

 

“Yeah, I figured it out last night. Drowning my worries in my alchemy, I guess. I can actually make a cookie that isn’t purple now. No dead giveaways that you’ve been truth serum-ed until you’re spilling your guts to everyone within earshot.”

 

“I’ll admit that was kinda an unfortunate color for an undercover operation, but it fooled those idiot guards, that’s for sure. And it made for one of the most epic villainous debuts in history.”

 

“Not that you’re biased or anything, Mom.”

 

“True. There is that.” Lady Caine crossed to the closet and pulled out a teal-and-black ombre shirt with tiny glimmering specks of silver that had quickly become one of Via’s favorites since Varian had bought it for her. “Come on, get dressed,” she said, tossing it in her daughter’s general direction. “You’re already plenty late for school.”

 

She started to walk away and then turned back, her eyes lighting up with an idea. “Here’s a thought, Vi. Why don’t you have dinner with Gavin and his mother tonight? It’d do me good to eat with what’s left of my crew and whip those good-for-nothing scallawags back into shape before they forget who their captain is. And if you ask me, I think Gavin may be feeling a little bit abandoned. You don’t seem to spend as much time with him anymore. Good henchmen like that are few and far between; you’ve gotta hang onto them.”

 

“Henchman?” Via laughed. “Gavin’s not my henchman! We’re friends, Mom, that’s all.”

 

“Friend, henchman, sidekick, whatever you want to call it. You know what I mean. He’s the LeFou to your Gaston.”

 

“What?”

 

“The Mr. Smee to your Captain Hook!”

 

Now Via was catching on to the joke. “Seriously, Mom?”

 

“No? You don’t like that one either? How about the Kronk to your Yzma?”

 

“Ew, gross, no, she’s like, eight hundred! And Gavin’s way smarter than that. Plus Kronk’s an Auradonian now. ‘Reformed villain,’ remember?”

 

“Oh, yeah. Well, anyway, you get the idea.”

 

As Lady Caine set Rudiger down and walked away, Via suddenly remembered something and called her back for the second time. “Hey, Mom? We don’t have plans on Thursday, do we?”

“Don’t think so. Why?”

 

“It’s nothing. I was just...I was gonna have Silas over. To look at my experiments. He’s really interested.”

 

“Silas. That’s the new kid, right?”

 

“Yeah.”

 

A strange look crossed Lady Caine’s face, almost a knowing smile. “So that’s how it is. Sure, Via. Thursday’s fine.”

 

“That’s how what is?” Via demanded, feeling a hot flush rise to her face.

 

“Oh, nothing,” Lady Caine said, still smiling as she walked away down the hall. “Nothing at all.”

 

___________________________

 

Lady Caine, it turned out, was right about the way Gavin was feeling. He jumped at Via’s request to come over for dinner, and all the way to school he talked incessantly about any subject that came to mind. Via, for once, made her best effort to listen. She felt a little guilty over how she’d been treating Gavin lately; sure, she was a villain, but she had no reason to hurt her best friend’s feelings. But as they drew closer to New Dragon Hall, Via found herself distracted once again, glancing around to see if she could spot Silas anywhere.

 

At least until something Gavin was saying grabbed her attention.

 

“Oh, yeah,” Gavin said. “I meant to tell you, Via. I was talking to Randall Radcliffe a few days ago, and he told me to tell you that his sister Rowena saw a girl with an umbrella floating over Sherwood Forest, and you may want to get your mom on that.”

 

Via groaned. “Ugh. That’d be May.” She remembered Mary Poppins’ eccentric daughter from her time at Auradon Prep- they hadn’t really spoken or known each other well at all, but May had been one of those heroes who just got on Via’s nerves.

 

“Great,” she said. “So now I have to help my mom figure out how a bunch of pirates might possibly stop a girl with a flying umbrella, which is going to be difficult because half her men are in Neverland with my dad and she’s only got a skeleton crew. Seriously, what are the heroes up to? First the incident in Sherwood, then the fairies, then somebody spots Mal and now May Poppins? It’s like they’re purposely popping up every so often to make sure we don’t forget about them.”

 

“That’s what I was thinking,” Gavin said. “It’s like...it’s like they’ve got a plan, but it’s the kind of plan where literally nothing makes sense until suddenly it does except it’s too late and they’ve already won. And then you look back, and it’s like every clue was there, you just didn’t see it and you can’t imagine why.”

 

“Exactly,” Via sighed. “We’ve gotta figure this out before they do something drastic and we’re all snapped back to the Isle again. I can guarantee they won’t be letting anyone out, kids or otherwise, once that happens.”

 

“Of course not,” Gavin said. “You’re a perfect example of how wrong that can go. Ben must be kicking himself right now, for that decree.”

 

“Nah,” Via said. “That decree is what got him Mal. True love and all that. But I bet he sure feels guilty. After all, he’s responsible for Auradon falling apart. Well, for letting me in so I could destroy it, anyway.”

 

They fell silent for awhile, walking briskly to combat the crisp air of late autumn. They had almost reached Auradon Prep when Gavin spoke again.

 

“Do you ever...think about them? The heroes, I mean. What they must be feeling. Do you think...maybe...some of them regret what they did to us, even though we’re evil? Do you think maybe some of them regret letting King Beast form the Isle?”

 

“I don’t know,” Via answered. “I seriously doubt Rapunzel regrets pushing your mom out a window or getting my dad locked up in the dungeons. But I think, maybe, some of them might regret the Isle, now that they realize what a pressure cooker of revenge and hate it was. Maybe some of them wish they’d treated us a little better. Too late now, though.”

 

“About Rapunzel. I know she probably didn’t think twice about what she did once your dad was a villain. But she’s got to know that she was the one who made him that way, when she broke her promise. Do you think she regrets that at least? Wishes things could have been different?”

 

At the mention of the hated name Via felt her lip curl. “If she regretted breaking her promise, she had plenty of time to show it after the blizzard,” she said darkly. “And she didn’t. And yeah, she made my dad a villain, but the only one she ever blamed for that was him.”

 

They had reached New Dragon Hall now, and Via let the conversation die away as they walked up the front steps and pushed open the door.

 

The place was chaos. Everyone seemed to be wildly excited about something, chattering and yelling and screaming with wild abandon. Via and Gavin exchanged confused glances before Via decided to get some answers.

 

“Hey, Maya!” she called out, recognizing a girl she’d spoken with once or twice. The daughter of Hercules and Megara, Maya didn’t seem to belong at New Dragon Hall at first. But even though her mother was a ‘reformed villain,’ Maya had never made it to the ‘reformed’ part. And she had enough of her mother’s sharp wit and acid tongue that nobody argued the point.

 

“What’s going on?” Via asked as Maya jogged over. The other girl jerked a thumb at the back wall.

“Teachers just made a big announcement. It’s all anyone’s talking about. Go look.”

 

Via narrowed her eyes and grabbed Gavin’s wrist, pulling him along after her. The crowds made way for her, recognizing that such an accomplished villain had places to be, but Via didn’t look at any of them. She just kept going to the back wall, where a large, colorful poster had been stapled into the plaster. At the first glimpse of the words printed on it her mouth dropped open.

 

“What in the name of wickedness is _this_?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! I’m alive, I promise! So sorry this chapter’s so late; it was my birthday weekend last week, and the week before that we had an event at my church. I’m gonna ask you guys to be forgiving during the summer, since my schedule’s a little bit busier and I have less time to write, but you’re getting this chapter a day early to make up for it!
> 
> Shoutout to chris_hemsworth_is_my_bae, TheLonelySceptile and Kittypurry, whose OCs Maya, May and Rowena all made appearances/were mentioned in this chapter. I just couldn’t see May going evil, so I decided she should make a suspicious appearance as part of the heroes’ big plan. Rowena, likewise, I couldn’t envision going good (and it was so fun to envision my other Pocahontas OC, Randall, from Chapter Two of No Promises, with a sister!)
> 
> Maya was a bit different. Technically Megara did start out as a villain, and any daughter of hers would have the sass to stay one. We’ll actually be discussing the idea of ‘Reformed Villains,’ as well as the Anti-Heroes Club, in later chapters. They’re a big part of where the plot is headed.
> 
> Also, what did Lady Caine mean by her cryptic statement “so that’s how it is?” What’s this strange foreboding she and Via are feeling? What’s written on the poster? And, even though he didn’t feature much in this one, any new guesses as to the identity of Silas?
> 
> Okay. Now that we’ve got the fun part out of the way, and even though the Descendants Core Four doesn’t play a massive role in the Viaverse, I do want to take a little time to acknowledge what a treasure the world lost in Cameron Boyce. Even as just a fan, I’m still stricken and struggling to believe the news of his passing. I may not have given Carlos a major role in the Viaverse, but the character was definitely one of the things that made me fall in love with the concept of Descendants enough to spend time writing these stories, and without this brilliant actor Auradon is never going to look the same. Rest In Peace, Cameron Boyce. Thanks for all the amazing memories. <3


	9. Gavin’s Question

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A surprise announcement from the evil teachers sets Via on the warpath. And a surprising change in Gavin gives her a tough choice to make.

**VILLAIN COTILLION!** the poster read in large, spidery letters, green and black and purple. Beneath the heading was the image of two dragons forming a heart shape, the same symbol that had once been Mal’s, and beneath that, the words **IF GOOD CAN DO IT, WE CAN DO IT BETTER!** in smaller letters.

 

Via stood staring at it for a long moment, hardly able to take in what she was seeing. _Really? This is what the teachers think is a good use of our time? I broke that barrier so we could turn our backs on Auradon completely, not so we could be a slightly more evil copy of them! How is a dance supposed to make us better villains? Not to mention that good seems to be planning a countermove right at this very moment; this isn’t great timing!_

 

“Via?” Gavin said from behind her, sounding concerned. “Are you okay?”

 

Via rounded on him, tossing back her ponytail and planting her hands on her hips. “No! No, Gavin, I am not okay! What are the teachers thinking?”

 

“Well, what’s wrong with a dance?” Gavin asked, looking around the buzzing hallway. “Everyone seems pretty excited. Maybe it’ll be fun.”

 

“I don’t care if it’s fun!” Via retorted. “Gavin, my dad’s on his way to Neverland to deal with a fairy crisis as we speak, and my mom hasn’t caught a break in nearly a week. Good is planning something! We ought to be preparing, making sure we’re ready, not dancing the night away at some stupid Villain Ball.”

 

“Cotillion...”

 

“I don’t care what it’s called!” Via whirled away from the poster, plopping down on a nearby bench with a long sigh. Gavin, eyes wide, came to sit beside her.

 

“Besides that,” Via continued in a slightly calmer tone, “don’t you remember what Uma said the Auradon Cotillion was like? The whole thing was all about who invited who, who ended up with an embarrassing date, who stole a kiss by the end of the night. That’s not what villains are about. Villains don’t fall in love. Villains don’t get true love’s kiss. That’s a Good thing.”

 

“It’s not impossible,” Gavin protested. Via gave him an incredulous look, and he shrank in his seat.

 

“Name me one villain who ever needed true love’s kiss to be evil.”

 

“Uh...”

 

“Exactly!”

 

“Well, there’s your parents,” Gavin said.

 

“Who met on the Isle, well after both of them had become villains and pulled off their evil schemes. My mom didn’t need my dad to hijack Rapunzel’s coronation. My dad didn’t need my mom to kidnap Queen Arianna. They were flying solo through all of that. Sure, maybe they love each other now, but they didn’t need each other to be villains. And that’s what we should be focusing on- being villains.”

 

A long moment of silence passed between the pair of them before Gavin spoke again.

 

“So...you’re not going?”

 

“Duh! Didn’t you hear a word I said? Of course I’m not going!”

 

“Well, that’s a shame.”

 

Both Gavin and Via startled at the sound of the smooth, sly voice. They looked up to see Silas leaning casually on the wall above them, grinning down with his Cheshire grin.

 

“I, for one,” he said, “think it’s an excellent idea. Well-timed, too.”

 

Via raised an eyebrow. “How do you figure?” she demanded.

 

Silas laughed. “I’m surprised you didn’t, sweetheart. You don’t think it’s a good idea to put the heroes in their place? To show good that we can take away anything we want and make it ours?” He lowered his voice. “You don’t think it’s a good idea to pretend like everything’s normal and nothing’s wrong, so that your mother doesn’t have to deal with mass hysteria on top of everything else?”

 

His logic made sense, and Via flushed red, wondering why she hadn’t thought of that.

 

“I...I guess you’re right,” she stammered. “Mom _has_ been trying to keep it quiet.”

 

“Exactly,” Silas said. “The teachers are doing her a favor. And as for the part about true love’s kiss...well, nothing says that has to happen. But it might be nice to make our feelings known, you know, if there’s someone like that in our lives? Surely even villains should do that.”

 

At his words, Via flushed even redder, staring down at her lap as she nodded, not trusting herself to verbally reply. Around anyone else she was her usual smart, sarcastic self, but Silas seemed able to melt her into a puddle. _I’m not even going to think about what that means._

 

With a slight grunt of scorn, Gavin stood up. “See, Via? I told you. No reason at all not to go to Villain Cotillion. I bet you’ll even have fun. We need to be getting along to Evil History now; thanks for your opinion, Sylvester.”

 

Silas’ eyebrow rose, and he frowned slightly, his deep blue eyes turning cold and hard. “The first class of the day is science, Gothel,” he said evenly, folding his arms across his chest. “And my name is Silas.”

 

“My mistake,” Gavin replied, completely without apology in his voice. “Come on, Via. Let’s go. Now.”

 

Via, too stunned by the sudden hostility from the usually upbeat, dramatic Gavin, let herself be dragged away without protest. It wasn’t until they were halfway down the hallway that she broke out of her shock and pulled away roughly from Gavin’s hold on her elbow.

 

“Why did you do that?” she exploded.

 

“Why did I do what?” Gavin said carelessly. He sounded very much like his mother in that moment, knowing exactly what she meant and yet pretending not to have a clue. Via had no patience for that trick.

 

“Sylvester,” she said harshly. “You know that’s not his name. What’s wrong with you?”

 

Hearing the animosity in her voice, Gavin deflated slightly. “Sorry. Maybe that was a bit much. But I can’t help it, Via, I don’t like you hanging around that guy! Something about him doesn’t sit well. Your dad asked me to look out for you while he was away, and I just...I have a strange feeling about Silas. I don’t trust him.”

 

Via merely rolled her eyes, not dignifying his statement with an answer.

 

She found herself wondering, though, why Gavin seemed so irked by Silas’ presence. _He was fine with it at first. What’s really going on here?_

 

____________________________

 

 

Things between Gavin and Via stayed a little strained all afternoon. They didn’t talk much unless they had to, and in Evil Science Via partnered up with Silas. But by the time the school day had come to a close, Gavin seemed to have reconsidered his stance and acted apologetic, trying his best to smooth things over by drawing Via into his familiar meaningless conversation as they walked home. Still a little upset, Via ignored his efforts for a few minutes. But Gavin was her best friend, after all, and he certainly seemed to regret hurting her feelings. So eventually Via extended the olive branch, answering his questions and replying with some of her own, and the wide grin on his face proved that all was right again between them. Via found herself smiling too; things just weren’t the same without her and Gavin’s friendship to count on.

 

Today, as agreed that morning, they didn’t part ways in the middle of the street. Today Via walked right past her own house and followed Gavin to his, only to be greeted at the door by one of Mother Gothel’s overenthusiastic embraces.

 

“Via, flower!” she sang out, nearly crushing Via in her arms as Gavin slapped a hand to his forehead in embarrassment. “Oh, it seems like _forever_ since we’ve seen you, darling!”

 

“You...argh...saw me when my...can’t breathe...dad left,” Via gasped out, as Mother Gothel finally released her. Mother Gothel had become more affectionate since the days of the Isle, seeing herself as the senior member of their two families’ little gatherings and watching over everyone, even Varian and Caine, like a mother hen. “It’s because of Rapunzel,” Gavin had once confided to Via. “I think Mom did love her, a little tiny bit, in her own way, and now that she’s lost her, she’s basically adopted your family as a replacement.”

 

“So that’s why she calls me flower. Wait, doesn’t she have you for that?” Via had asked, and Gavin had shrugged.

 

“She does, ish, but since I have to live with it all day long I get annoyed with it more easily. Plus I am absolutely nothing like Rapunzel.”

 

“And you think I am?” Via had yelped. “You think my dad- not to mention my mother- are?” Gavin had flushed as red as his trademark cranberry color, realizing what he’d said, and the conversation had ended in laughter from both of them.

 

Via, lost in memories, suddenly realized that Mother Gothel was still talking.

 

“Oh, yes, of course we saw you then but there was so much going _on_ , dear! No time to talk, no chance to figure out what’s going on in your life! I’ve missed hearing all about it, your little experiments and of course the latest misadventures of Rutherford-“

 

“It’s Rudiger,” Gavin interjected. “And actually, Mother...”

 

“Tell me, Via, how’s your mother doing these days? It feels like I never even _see_ her anymore, she’s kept so busy running around and cleaning up all of Auradon’s messes.”

 

“Mother?” Gavin tried again.

 

“You should have invited her to dinner! Always room for one more, and I hate to think of her alone while your father’s off battling those horrid little imps.”

 

“Mother!”

 

“Unless of course she’s eating with those ruffians of hers, in which case I wish her well. Rapscallions, the lot of them. Honestly, Via, I don’t know how she stands it!”

 

“ _Mother_!” Gavin shouted. This time he finally succeeded in getting Gothel’s attention. He ran a hand through his thick dark curls, seeming, to Via, suddenly shy.

 

“I was actually hoping,” he said quietly, “that Via and I could eat in the kitchen? You know...alone?”

 

“Well, why on earth would you want to do that?” Gothel exclaimed incredulously.

 

“I told you. I want to ask her that...that question. About the...thing.”

 

Via blinked, utterly clueless as to what he meant, and judging by the look on Gothel’s face she felt the same way. But then her expression cleared, relaxing into a conspiratorial little smile.

 

“Oh,” she said. “Oh, yes. Yes, Gavin, yes, of course. I’ll just be up in my room then; help yourselves to dinner. I made hazelnut soup!”

 

“For the eighth day in a row,” Gavin grumbled, but suddenly he seemed more nervous than anything else. Via watched him confusedly as she filled her bowl and sat down at the kitchen table. After a moment he followed and sat down across from her.

 

“Via?” he said, then broke off. “Um...Via...”

 

He turned red again, drumming his fingers on the table. “Via...”

 

“Yes, Gavin, that _is_ my name,” Via interrupted, impatience coloring her words. “Just spit it out already!”

 

Gavin startled, and his words came out in a rush, tripping and tumbling over themselves almost too quickly for his tongue to keep up with them.

 

“WillyougotoVillainCotillionwithme?”

 

For the second time that day, Via’s mouth dropped open. “What?”

 

“Will you go to Villain Cotillion with me?” Gavin repeated, actually separating the words this time. “I’ll understand if you say no. But I like you, Via. I really, really like you. I have for a while now. And I want you to go with me.”

 

“Gavin...” Via drew a long sigh, uncertain how to respond. “I’m not even sure I’m going yet!”

 

“I want you to go,” Gavin said. “With me.”

 

He was so earnest, so open and honest and...and...

 

_And everything somebody else is not._

 

Via bit her lip, reaching across the table to take his hand in hers.

 

“Gavin,” she said again. “I do like you. I really, really do. As a friend. As my best friend. But not...not as anything more than that.”

 

Gavin’s face fell, and guilt clenched in Via’s heart. But after a moment he looked up with a valiant attempt at a smile.

 

“Okay,” he said quietly. “Okay. That’s fine. I just...I just thought I’d ask.”

 

“I’m glad you did,” Via replied. “Really.” Then, after a moment of silence, “Still friends?”

 

“Yeah,” Gavin said, swallowing hard. “Still friends. This doesn’t change anything.” He dipped his spoon into his soup, and after a moment Via did the same.

 

_You heard him,_ she told herself stubbornly. _This doesn’t change anything._

 

But she couldn’t make herself believe the words, because it felt as if this had changed everything.

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Duh-duh-duh! Well, as of this chapter we’ve discovered Gavin’s true feelings about Via and Silas. Do you think Via should have turned Gavin down? Why does Gavin have such a problem with Silas? Let me know your best guess in the comments!
> 
> (Also, apologies to anyone still waiting on an OC to make an appearance. I have not forgotten you. This was just one of those chapters where I couldn’t work in somebody new).
> 
> Also also, keep an eye out for special opportunities in upcoming chapters. I’ve decided to get my readers more involved with the story if they so choose, so in later chapters you guys will have the chance to vote on several details of the Villain Cotillion, if that’s something you’d want to do! And by the way, speaking of a vote, let’s do a little one now bc I can’t decide what chapter to write next. Do you guys want to, A, see how Via’s Thursday visit with Silas goes? Or B, check in with Varian on the high seas? The choice is yours! Let me know in the comments!


	10. Evil Erased

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Far off in Neverland, Varian and his army find themselves under attack...and when things end badly, good reveals a part of their plan.

Varian the Alchemist stood on the foredeck of the _Blood Rose,_ his gloved hands planted on his hips, letting the salty sea breeze blow through his dark, blue-streaked hair.

 

“I can see why Caine loves it out here,” he said to no one in particular. It was exhilarating, freeing in a way he hadn’t known since the days before the Isle, the days before the blizzard that turned his life upside down.

 

He closed his eyes, inhaling the briny scent of the clear blue water, listening to the squawking of the seabirds and the shouted orders of his wife’s crew. Somewhere behind them would be the _Jolly Roger_ , carrying the Hook siblings and their father, along with that squid-girl and her dimwitted blond sidekick, and several dozen random pirates that had invited themselves along. With the addition of his newly-improved alchemical weapons, they were more than prepared for this mission.

 

Varian had expected to feel the weight of his monumental task, the risks he was taking in the impending battle with the fairies of Neverland, worry over the family he’d left in Auradon. He felt none of that. For once his confidence was soaring; for the first time in a long while he felt ready for anything.

 

And that, of course (because that was just the way life went for him, it seemed) was when the first blow struck against the side of the _Blood Rose_ , nearly throwing Varian off-balance. He caught himself, whirling to shout up at the lookout in the crow’s nest.

 

“What in _blazes_ was that?”

 

The man shaded his eyes, peering down into the depths. “Mermaids in the water, sir!” he called back.

 

“Blast it,” Varian muttered, undoing the clasp on his leather satchel and flipping open the top. “Well, don’t just stand there! We’re under attack!”

 

His words galvanized the man into action, and he scrambled down the ship’s rigging, crying out at the top of his lungs as he did so. “Mermaids in the water! We’re under attack! All hands to stations and make ready!”

 

The _Blood Rose_ erupted in activity. Ropes snapped, sails billowed outward, and footsteps pounded on the deck as the crew braced for attack. Varian, meanwhile, rushed to the side of the ship, leaning down to catch a glimpse of their attackers.

 

There. A flash of glimmering scale, a swirl of hair, a splash of a fin. Varian balanced a glass sphere in his palm and flung it down into the water. “Have a taste of that, you demented fish!” he shouted, feeling the familiar adrenaline of battle rush back into his blood. The water sizzled and turned a sickly green, accompanied by a shriek from the stricken mermaid as she vanished quickly from sight.

 

“Gotcha,” Varian said, his old half-smirk planting itself on his features. “Who’s next?”

 

A cannon shot rang out from the _Jolly Roger_ ; by now the shouts and cries of the sailors had reached a frenzied pitch. The villain crew was fighting back, hard, but the mermaids of Neverland were fiercer than the Atlantean variety Varian was used to dealing with, and the battle was proving harder than he’d thought. He kept at it, hurling vial after vial down into the crystal depths, turning the water red and violet and green in turn.

 

But every so often would come a heavy impact, rocking the _Blood Rose_ from side to side, and Varian could see the same thing happening to the _Jolly Roger._ Some of the mermaids were staying beneath the water, striking at the ship’s hull, and any minute now they’d...

 

“She’s taking on water!”

 

And there it was. They’d sprung a leak. The _Blood Rose_ listed sharply to the side, and Varian caught hold of the rail just as something small and swift whizzed past his ear with a jangling of bells.

 

The fairies had arrived. They swarmed over the crew in droves, diving furiously at anyone and everyone, in such numbers that Varian found himself wondering what exactly the Hooks had been up to out here to have missed so many. He swatted the tiny creatures away with his satchel, threw down a vial or two on the deck to cloud the air with colored fog whenever he had a chance, but it just wasn’t going to be enough. It was a losing battle if they kept on like this. Varian himself was making a significant impact, but the swords and cutlasses of the pirates were all but useless against the combined aerial and underwater assaults.They needed another plan. They needed a new strategy. They needed...they needed...

 

A new, redoubled force smashed against the side of the _Blood Rose_ , and this one proved too much for the beleaguered ship to take. She leaned to the side, sending barrels, sacks and anything else that wasn’t tied down rolling across the deck. The mermaids followed up with a second blow to the opposite side, sending the vessel careening back the other way too quickly for the crew to keep their balance.

Varian cried out, clutching the ship’s rail in a last desperate attempt to keep himself steady.

 

But it wasn’t enough. His feet slipped out from under him, and then he was sliding across the deck, across the rough wooden boards, and down, down, down into the cold blue water.

 

The shock of it, of the cold as he went under, stole his breath away. For a moment he hung there in the water, dimly registering a terrible grinding crack as _Blood Rose_ struck the Neverlandian reef.

And then he was moving again, fighting to reach the surface, to follow the rising bubbles back to the light, to the air.

 

But something...something was holding him down, restricting his movements, trapping him. He struggled against it, struggled to regain control, but something was dragging him down, down further into the blackness. Something struck him, feeling as solid as iron against his temple, and for a moment reality faded away and he was lost in a thoughtless haze of pain.

 

He had no idea how long he floated in that dim gray fog that was not quite unconsciousness and yet not quite waking. He remembered, faintly, other blows striking him, smashing into his ribs, his back, but he couldn’t remember what had caused them or how long ago that had been.

 

Sand. There was sand under his cheek, warm sun on his skin, and he began to come back to himself, blinking as he realized that he wasn’t in the water anymore. He was lying on a beach, sore and aching, too exhausted from the ordeal to even consider moving.

 

He couldn’t have even if he wanted to; he could tell from the dull pain in his chest each time he breathed that something had been broken. Several somethings, most likely. He reached a shaking hand to probe at the source of the ache, but even the light contact with the injury made his head swim, and when his fingers came back red and wet...

 

A footstep. A footstep on the sand, a shadow falling across his helpless form. He made himself move, made himself look up, squinting against the glare of the bright yellow sun to meet a pair of familiar green eyes, narrowed in anger, hard and cold.

 

He had not expected to see her, and yet somehow it didn’t surprise him in the least.

 

“Hello, Cassandra,” he managed to gasp, and then the pain was just too much and the whole world fell away into darkness.

__________________________

 

Varian came awake slowly, blinking against the dim torchlight that sent flashes of pain through his pounding head. His hair was still wet, dripping seawater into his eyes, and his clothes were soaked as well. He sat against a cold stone wall, his wrists and ankles bound with rough rope, pinning his arms behind his back. And unsurprisingly, his satchel full of weapons had disappeared.

 

His eyes were adjusting, slowly, to the dim grey light in the...cave, yes, that’s what it was, a cave, and as his vision slowly refocused he found himself staring into yet another familiar pair of green eyes.

 

“Hello, Varian,” Rapunzel said softly. “It’s good to see you.”

 

“I can’t say the same,” Varian growled. “So this is where the heroes have been hiding, out in Neverland. Clever. We might look for years and never find you. Except...now I _have_ found you.”

 

“You didn’t find us,” Rapunzel said. “You’re a prisoner here. Again you’re a prisoner, Varian.”

 

“It won’t last long,” he replied. “It never does.”

 

“It doesn’t have to,” Rapunzel said. “Despite what anyone else may say I know there’s still good in you. Right now you’re a force for evil, Varian. Powerful. Influential. You could be the same for good. You could turn back to the light. Your daughter would follow- she worships you- and evil would lose. The world would be right again. You could start over. You could have another chance.”

 

“A chance for what?” Varian demanded. “A chance to pour myself out for you, time and time again, to help you when you need it and then the one time I need you more than anything to be betrayed and abandoned and forgotten? A chance to be called a threat by everyone because of some stupid rumor, to be chased out of my own home and left to fend for myself without anyone even bothering to see if I was alright? A chance to get hurt again? Because that’s what being good meant for me, Rapunzel. That’s what I got for trying to be a hero. And when I didn’t want to be good anymore, that’s when I was thrown into a cage and forgotten, and then banished to an island with nothing but your leftovers to survive on, and _then_ forced to put the very substance that destroyed my life into my daughter’s hands if I was ever going to give her the life she deserved. I’ve tried things your way. I was just as good as you. And you betrayed me. If you are what it means to be good, then I’m finished with it. I’m done with good. And I’m done with you. And when I get out of this cave the first thing I’m going to do is make you pay for everything you’ve done to me...personally, this time.”

 

He pressed his lips into a tight, thin line, staring at her unflinchingly, his fists clenched solid behind his back and hatred boiling within him.

 

But she did not seem angry. For a long moment Rapunzel simply sat there watching him, her eyes dulling with sadness and a strange resignation, as if she was finally accepting that the Varian she had known was gone for good. Then she stood up, driving the emotion from her face, trying to speak as if her words made no difference to her.

 

“You leave me no choice,” she said softly, determinedly. “I have to protect my own, Varian, and you are a very dangerous enemy. I can’t take a chance on you. If you won’t come to your senses willingly, you’ll come to your senses the hard way. Either way you’re going to be on our side. I wish you weren’t forcing me into this, but...you brought it on yourself.”

 

She sighed, then stepped to the entrance of the cave and called out to someone out of sight.

 

“Alright,” she said, defeat heavy in her voice. “Do it.”

 

Varian’s lip curled, and his eyebrow rose in scornful confusion, uncertain what Rapunzel was talking about and yet far too proud to ask her, to admit that she had him wondering. As the unseen figure stepped into view he found his questions answered.

 

Cassandra stood in front of him, her jaw hard and set, her eyes cold, holding something long and thin in her hand.

 

He laughed a little. “The Fairy Godmother’s wand. Maleficent was wondering where that got to. You heroes, you rely on magic for everything, don’t you? Even to punish me.”

 

“This isn’t a punishment, Varian,” Rapunzel said. “It’s more than you deserve. I’m giving you everything you want. I’m giving you a new life.”

 

“What are you talking about?” Varian spat, his apprehension finally getting the better of him. It was Cassandra who answered, satisfaction in her voice.

 

“When Rapunzel and I made the trip to the Dark Kingdom while you were in prison,” she said, “we came across a little thing called the Wand of Oblivium. It had the power to erase one’s memories. With the help of Fairy Godmother, we’ve devised a similar plan for you. You weren't always dangerous, Varian. You were one of us once.”

 

“So you’re...what, erasing my memories of Rapunzel stabbing me in the back, betraying me when I needed her most? What good will that do you? I’ll still have my feelings. I may not know _why_ I hate you, but I’ll still hate you.”

 

“No, Varian,” Rapunzel said. “We’re not erasing your memories. We’re rewriting them. We’re changing your reality. You won’t remember your father being trapped, or the blizzard, or the Isle, or any of it, because in your mind none of that will ever have happened. We’re giving you a perfect life, a perfect past, where nothing ever went wrong and you never started down the path to evil. You won’t be a villain any longer, Varian, because you won’t know that you ever were one.”

 

She looked to Cassandra, her pain evident in her face. “Don’t make it harder than it has to be,” she said. “Just make it quick.”

 

“You can’t do this,” Varian said, feeling desperation rise in him now. “You can’t do this! _Good_ would never do this!”

 

“Desperate times, desperate measures,” Cassandra said evenly, leveling the wand at his chest.

 

“You do this and you’ll regret it, Rapunzel!” Varian shouted at the princess’s retreating back. “Do you hear me? You’ll regret this!”

 

The reply came back soft and subdued. “Believe me, Varian, when it comes to you there are many things I regret.”

 

And then she was gone.

 

Cassandra tightened her grip on the smooth wood of the wand.

 

“Oh, by the way,” she hissed. “Don’t worry about Via. By the time I’m finished you won’t remember her, either.”

 

Varian’s mouth fell open, pure shock stealing away his words as Cassandra leveled the wand. “Set it right, let evil flee, make things the way they ought to be!” she cried.

 

“ _No_!” Varian shouted, trying in vain to escape the ropes that held him. But in response to Cassandra’s words a blinding flash filled the cave, and for the second time that day his world went dark.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Don’t freak out. This will all be explained in later chapters. I have plans for our favorite alchemist that are going to go in a real interesting direction, so please don’t rage quit just yet! (And if you haven’t watched the last few episodes of Season Two, you might want to do that).
> 
> I know this is going to come up, so I’ll just say it now. Do I believe Rapunzel would ever do this? No. No, I do not. But right now she’s on the run and in hiding, her daughter’s in danger, her kingdom’s been obliterated and her evil fake mom is back. She’s seen some stuff. I envision this as her last resort, and as explained in the chapter, she hates that she has to do it.
> 
> Which brings us to Cass. Yes, I know I said she wouldn’t be appearing. Forget what I said because this plot line idea hit me like a ton of bricks and here we are. You can celebrate early, Cassandra fans!
> 
> Varian fans....well, I’ll fix this eventually. Next chapter we’ll see how Via’s day with Silas goes.


	11. Via’s Tower

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Via begins to question whether Silas is truly the one who can’t be trusted- just as he asks her a question of his own.

Via really had to give Gavin some credit. He didn’t pressure her into changing her mind, or stop talking to her, or any of the other things Via had lain awake worrying about the night he’d confessed his feelings. They both did their best to go on being friends, to act like nothing was wrong, nothing had changed.

 

But something had. Something had shifted, and no matter how they tried they couldn’t pretend it away. So they did their best to ignore it, but the universe seemed determined to keep reminding them.

 

The Villain Cotillion was everywhere. New Dragon Hall suddenly seemed very similar to Auradon Prep as the date of the dance was decided upon. All the girls could talk about were their dresses and hairdos and makeup. All the boys were busy faking disinterest in the whole thing while secretly trying to work up the courage to ask out a girl.

 

Except Gavin, Via thought dismally, who had asked her so bravely only to be rejected.

 

But she stuck to her guns mentally, telling herself that no one wanted to be with someone who wanted to be with someone else. And every time she tried to picture herself at Cotillion, dancing with Gavin, his face in her fantasy always changed to someone else’s.

 

She wasn’t the only one, she knew. It was a well-known fact that Silas had yet to ask someone to Cotillion- and that there were plenty of girls hoping to catch his eye. _But I already did_ , Via told herself stubbornly. _If he’s gonna ask anyone, he’s gonna ask me...right?_

 

She wasn’t even sure why she cared so much. She still didn’t think villains should worry about things like cotillions, and she remembered the promise she had made to her father not to let things with Silas go too far. But as first one, then two days ticked by with not so much as a word to her from Silas, she found herself watching every girl who even glanced at him with hot pangs of jealousy shooting through her. (She may or may not have invented a serum responsible for the sudden outbreak of hacking coughs and raspy voices amongst those particular girls, but no one could prove anything).

 

Her growing feelings for Silas, along with her very much still present worry over Varian’s safety, provided her enough emotional distraction that she was once again off in her own little world during the school week, a state of mind that many attributed to the approaching Cotillion. Thursday morning, as she and Gavin walked through the hallways trying to talk together like everything was still normal between them, a tall redheaded girl fell into step beside Via, seeming not even to notice Gavin’s presence.

 

“So what’s with you?” she asked. “The whole school’s talking about it, when they’re not talking about Cotillion, anyway. You’ve spaced out again.”

 

“It’s nothing, Rosa,” Via replied, smiling at Prince Hans’ elegant, graceful daughter. She and Rosa were only acquaintances, exchanging little more than a hello here and there, but they were on friendly terms. “Just got a lot on my mind is all.”

 

“Who doesn’t, with Cotillion coming up?” Rosa said. Via nodded, but suddenly she felt that familiar envy swirling up in her. Rosa was beautiful, with hair that actually did what it was supposed to and eyes that sparkled wickedly and hands that weren’t always hidden away in gloves. _What is happening to me? She’s never given Silas so much as the time of day and I’m still getting jealous of her! I’m one of the most evil VKs in the school; I can’t  be turned into a lovestruck mess by some stupid boy!_

 

Suddenly it hit her, and she gasped aloud. “Silas!” she cried. “I completely forgot!”

 

“Forgot what?” Rosa asked, blinking in confusion.

 

“He's coming over today, to take a look at my experiments! I’ve already cancelled on him once, I can’t do it again! I gotta call my mom; if she doesn’t know someone’s coming over she’ll probably put a cutlass through him.”

 

“Whoa, Via, chill,” Rosa said. “He’s just some boy, and you’re just looking at your science whatever-it-is. It’s not like he’s...oh!”

 

She clapped a hand over her mouth as if she’d stumbled on the greatest secret of the last five years. “So it’s like that,” she said.

 

“No!” Via shouted. Out of the corner of her eye she watched Gavin, guilt pricking her as she saw how he bit his lip and turned away.

 

“No, Rosa,” she repeated. “Silas and I...there’s nothing. Really.”

 

“Sure,” Rosa said, with a conspiratorial wink. “We’ll see who you’re dancing with at Cotillion, ViVi.”

 

“I don’t even know if I’m going to Cotillion!” Via retorted. “And don’t call me ViVi!”

 

But the princess of the Southern Isles was already gone, sauntering off down the hall. Via drew in a long sigh.

 

“I’m sorry, Gavin,” she said softly. “I didn’t mean for-“

 

“No, no, it’s okay,” Gavin said. “I don’t mind. Not like you’re already with someone, right?”

 

He laughed, but it was weak and strained and there was pain behind it. Via reached out to grasp his shoulder,  but he twisted away, brushing her fingers gently off his sleeve.

 

“Don’t,” he said. “Via, just...don’t. Please. It’s okay. I’m okay. Look, I need some space. Why don’t you go on to class and I’ll see you later?”

 

“What?” Via asked. “But Gavin-“

 

“This isn’t goodbye. We’re still friends, like I said. But I need- I just can’t- deal with this right now. I need some time to myself.”

 

The look in his eyes, the way his smile trembled a little, the realization that he really wasn’t angry, made her back away, nodding her head as she swallowed the lump in her throat.

 

“One thing, Via,” Gavin said, as she turned to go. “Be careful later, alright, with Silas? I told you I don’t like something about him. I don’t want you to get hurt. Don’t do anything stupid, okay?”

 

“No, Gavin, I won’t,” Via said. “I promise.”

 

“I hoped you’d say that,” Gavin whispered. “You always keep your promises.”

 

 

 

The ring of the doorbell shattered the afternoon stillness. Via jumped up, startling a dozing Rudiger, and raced down the stairs, almost colliding with Lady Caine in her dash for the door.

 

And there he stood, in his familiar black and raspberry, his rusty hair a little windblown and his midnight eyes sparkling with hidden evil. Via felt her heart beat faster.

 

“Hey,” he said.

 

“Hey,” Via replied, unsure why her voice came out a little too soft. “Uh, want to come in? I mean, of course you want to come in, that’s why you’re here, so, uh...come in.”

 

“Very smooth, Vi,” Lady Caine observed dryly from behind her, stepping forward with her hands on her hips to glance over Silas. He met her gaze, fishing something small and shiny from his pocket.

 

“It felt like I should bring a hostess gift, Lady Caine,” he said, smiling that sly grin Via knew so well. “Meeting you for the first time and all.” He pressed the object into her hands, and she examined it curiously.

 

“A very small ship in a very small bottle,” she said. “Always a safe bet for a pirate.” She was smiling now, but it was a strange, knowing smile with something calculating in it, and Via had no idea what her mother’s first impression of Silas was.

 

“My stuff’s upstairs,” she said, leading Silas through the house as she explained. “That trapdoor in the kitchen leads to the basement. That’s where Dad does his work. He practically lived down there before he left; he was working on something special, he said. No idea what it was. Lots of hammering, a couple explosions. He took the key with him.”

 

“So you have no idea what’s down there?”

 

“Not a clue.”

 

“Hmm, secrets. I have a bit of experience with those, you might say.”

 

“You _are_ a secret, Silas,” Via shot back, feeling her smile grow wider because this was...good. This was normal. This was without any of the awkwardness that normally came between a girl and the guy she liked. And that was what she wanted for the two of them- normalcy, like Ben and Mal, and Carlos and Jane, and Evie and Doug and all the other Auradon couples had had. That was what she wanted, to go to Cotillion with Silas and not even think about what anyone thought. _If only he’d ask me._

 

They reached Via’s room in no time, once again surprising Rudiger, who calmed down when Silas produced two or three apple slices from his other pocket.

 

“Those are his favorite,” Via said. “How’d you know?”

 

“Lucky guess,” Silas said. “Whoa!”

 

He’d caught sight of the truth-serum experiment covering Via’s desk. “What’s this?” he asked, peering into the bubbling vial of (clear, no longer purple) liquid.

 

“Oh, I inherited that project from Dad,” Via said. “Most of it’s his work, actually. But this stuff over here is mine.”

 

The next hour and a half were some of the most enjoyable she’d had in a long time. Weapons, prank materials or just plain random ideas, Silas took a genuine interest in everything, asking questions and never pretending to know more than he did. Somehow they wound up sitting across from each other, Via perched on the edge of her bed and Silas with his elbows propped on the back of Via’s desk chair.

 

“This is amazing,” Silas said. “All of this, it’s amazing. You’re amazing, Via.”

 

Red rushed to Via’s cheeks, and she tucked her strand of blue hair behind her ear. “You’re just saying that.”

 

But Silas held her gaze. “No, no, I’m not. You truly are amazing, and you haven’t even lived up to your full potential. In different circumstances you could do so much more.”

 

“Different circumstances? What do you-“

 

“You’re a genius, Via. A real genius. And I guess I just don’t understand why you’re so quiet and withdrawn at school these days when you can do things like this. Ya know, for centuries good relied on magic. You? You don’t need it. And yet you’re stopping heroes who can turn into dragons or change the weather of an entire country with a wave of their hand. You are so much more than anyone else, but you act like you’re nothing at all.”

 

“I’ve been quiet at school because...”

 

_Because I think I’m falling in love with you._

 

“Because things have been...strained. With Gavin and me.”

 

It was a piece of the truth, but not the whole. Silas nodded, a little steel coming into his eyes.

 

“Gavin,” he repeated. “Your loyal little sidekick. I don’t think he likes me.”

 

“He doesn’t. He doesn’t trust you.”

 

“That’s actually smart.” Silas shrugged, as if Gavin’s opinion didn’t matter in the least to him. “You know who Gavin reminds me of, in regards to you? His mother.”

 

Via blinked. “Come again?”

 

“No, hear me out. He’s always looking after you, keeping you in your safe little box. Villains shouldn’t do safe. Villains shouldn’t play by anyone’s rules but theirs, and I want to see you do just that.”

 

“Gavin isn’t keeping me trapped.”

 

“Oh, really? What about the other day, dragging you off down the hall when I, someone he didn’t trust, showed up? He’s always right there, making sure you’re never too far out of sight, out of line. He’s your Gothel, Via. You’re Rapunzel. And he’s got you locked in a tower you can’t even see. I want to get you out.”

 

The words confused her, made her rethink the way things were between her and Gavin. Was he really like that, keeping her trapped? Had what she thought was friendship really been something else entirely?

 

“Did you hear me, Via?” Silas was beside her now, her hand in his. _Her hand in his_... “I want to get you out. I want to see you turn your back on what Gavin might think, what Gavin might say, and see what the world is really supposed to be like. And I want you to do it with me. I want to be your Flynn Rider.”

 

Via laughed a little in spite of the haze of questions clouding her mind. “My Flynn Rider? What, you’ll take me to see the lanterns and sweep me off my feet?”

 

“I was thinking more along the lines of Villain Cotillion.”

 

Via’s mouth dropped open. Her heart was hammering in earnest now; she was surprised Silas couldn’t hear it. And with every beat of her heart one word pounded in her head. _Yes, yes, yes..._

 

“What are you asking me?” she whispered.

 

He laughed, looking deep into her eyes like he could see her soul behind them. “I’m asking you to go to Cotillion with me. To let down your hair and step out of your tower. The two of us, together.”

 

The words in Via’s head became words on her tongue. “Yes!” she cried, unable to believe this moment, that he had chosen her, that he felt for her what she felt for him, that she was getting her happy ending. “Yes, yes, yes!”

 

Silas stepped close, and smiled, and just as he’d done so many days before, he took her hand and kissed it.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So that happened. What say you, readers? Is Silas right about Gavin? Should Via have said yes? Is this perhaps the villainous true love we’ve never seen? What are Caine’s thoughts? And oh yeah, what was Varian working on before the fateful trip to Neverland?
> 
> Sorry this chapter’s so late, by the way. I was hit in the face by an idea for a medieval-court-intrigue AU thingy for one of my other fandoms (which I write for under another account. YOU SHALL NEVER FIND ME, mua-ha-ha) and I have thought of literally nothing else for days. Also, shout-out to LightAngel2007, whose OC Rosa FINALLY showed up. Sorry that took me so freakishly long. I hope I did her justice.
> 
> Also also, there is yet another musical reference in this chapter because I am a nerd and Jeremy Jordan is amazing. Any eagle eyes out there who want to try and spot it?
> 
> Also also also, because I know this is gonna come up, yes, I watched Descendants 3. SPOILERS FOLLOW. 
> 
> I have to say...I am less than enthralled. I thought the music was a bigger home run than either of the first two movies, but everything else was...meh. The new characters didn’t seem to have a point, Audrey did a heel-face turn from hero to villain and back far too quick, and compared to Uma she just...wasn’t real threatening. The Sea Three were funny, but that was a really quick change from super evil to only slightly so. The big twist with Hades being Mal’s dad I saw coming from a mile away (although this Hades was ON POINT and one of the only things I liked about the movie. Plus his “lock them up, throw away the key” line...it is exactly what my Descendants version of Varian has been saying the whole dang time.) And the ending? Maybe my OC’s a villain, maybe I’m getting in that mindset, but as far as the movies themselves go, there are actually villains in there who actually committed real crimes. And now they just get let go because...forgiveness? That’s not how that works. In the case of a villain like Varian, it might fly since there were extenuating circumstances and Rapunzel was not entirely innocent, but somebody like Claude Frollo or Maleficent or Ursula, who committed actual crimes for actually evil reasons and actually deserve the Isle...what the heck, Ben and Mal. I see no way *this* could ever go wrong. *insert eyeroll*
> 
> So, while I do want to write this as something that feels as if it might actually take place in a Descendants movie, I have to bypass canon and throw D3 out the window, as I originally said with No Promises, because...yeah, I’m not impressed. Also that ending makes Via’s whole existence useless, so I rest my case.


	12. How I Met Your Father

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> As the visit with Silas concludes, Lady Caine takes the opportunity to share a story of the past with Via- but Lady Caine does nothing without a reason.

The rest of Thursday passed by in a blur. Silas stayed for dinner, talking with Lady Caine while Via’s hand stayed clasped in his under the table. Lady Caine laughed and smiled and seemed to like him, but that strange knowing look never left her face. As for Via herself, she could barely remember what was talked about, what was said; she only knew that for once in her life she was perfectly, deliriously happy. The walls between her and Silas, the awkwardness, was gone now, their feelings for each other out in the light.

 

And then suddenly it was evening and the stars were out and she was showing him to the door, and he was turning around in the doorway to kiss not her hand, but her cheek, softly and gently. And Via finally understood the allure of true love’s kiss in that moment, as she watched him disappear down the path, waving as he went. For a long moment she stood there gazing after him, even after he was out of sight. And she was happy.

 

“Via,” Lady Caine said from behind her, “sweetheart, are you gonna actually shut the door and come inside anytime soon?”

  
“Sorry, Mom,” Via said, turning away reluctantly and closing the door behind her. She was still smiling, and she felt as if she would never stop.

  
“I’ve never seen you quite like this before,” Lady Caine said. “You’re _beaming_. Something happened, didn’t it?”

  
Via giggled shyly, playing with the blue streak in her hair and feeling the familiar heat of a blush steal into her face. “Yeah,” she admitted finally. “Something happened. He asked me out. To Cotillion. You were right, Mom- I did like him. There was something between us all along.”

  
“I thought there might be,” Lady Caine said, still with that odd little half-smile she’d been wearing all night, the one that looked as if the pieces of some puzzle Via hadn’t known about had finally clicked into place. “I was seventeen myself once, you know. I know what it looks like when a girl starts to fall for a guy. And I think you’re starting that adventure with Silas.”

  
“You’re okay with that?”

  
“I’ll do what I said I would do when this first came up. I’ll support you unless things go too far. At which point I won’t hesitate to use that old cutlass of mine, because nobody breaks my daughter’s heart and lives to tell about it.”

  
“Dad’s gonna kill me,” Via said, mostly joking.

  
“Nah,” Lady Caine said. “You’re the best thing that ever happened to him. Now Silas, on the other hand, might be in some danger once your father gets back. But then again, if anything happens with that boy it’ll be me he better worry about.”

  
Via laughed, glad that her mother could be so light-hearted about a situation as delicate as this one. But Lady Caine wasn’t finished yet.

  
“Let’s head to the living room,” she said. Via obeyed, sitting down across from her mother on the couch, and Lady Caine leaned forward a little.

  
“I’m going to tell you exactly what I saw in Silas,” she said. “And then I’m going to tell you a story. I’ll leave my own opinions out of it, but I want you to hear this.”

  
“Okay,” Via said. “I’m listening.”

  
Lady Caine drew in a deep breath. “Via, Silas seems like a wonderful young man. He’s gallant and respectful and has impeccable manners, both with you and with me. From what I’ve seen, he’s kind and caring and a perfect gentleman. I didn’t see a single thing about him that would worry a mother.”

  
Via let out a breath she didn’t realize she’d been holding, glad that Lady Caine’s impression of Silas had been so favorable.

  
“Now,” Lady Caine said, “I’m going to tell you a story that I know you’ve never heard. I’m going to tell you how I met your father.”

 

She settled back against the couch cushions, signaling Via to do the same. From across the room Rudiger’s ears perked up and he trotted across the carpet, pulling his chubby little body up onto the couch with some difficulty and settling down on the pirate’s lap, making a high-pitched rumbling noise almost like a purr. Caine buried her fingers in his thick gray fur and petted him as she talked, her eyes distant and far away with memories.

  
“There was no warning about the Isle,” she said. “They didn’t tell us that the kingdoms had united, what they’d decided to do with us- they just did it. By magic, of course. Heroes use magic to solve all their problems. The point is, it was unexpected. I went to sleep one night on a Coronan prison ship and woke up on the Isle with every other villain, evil sidekick and henchman that had ever walked the earth. The magical ones figured out that their powers didn’t work pretty quickly, and not too long after that we realized we were all permanently trapped. There was quite a scene in the center of the island once it dawned on all of us, let me tell you. Every villain in existence all gathered in one place, shouting and raging and vowing vengeance on their respective enemies. I was there too, making my own threats to Rapunzel and King Frederic and anyone else who’d had a hand in putting me there. When I’d gotten my anger out of my system, I noticed your father. He wasn’t anything special, or anyone I thought I would have loved at that point. Just some scrawny teenager with a blue streak in his hair, a few years younger than me and looking like he’d had a rough time of it. But what got my attention was that he wasn’t yelling and screaming and carrying on like the rest of us were. He was just sitting there, staring out across the water like he could burn a hole in the barrier just by looking at it long enough.”

  
She smiled fondly at the recollection. “There was pure, raw fury in that stare. Some of the weaker villains that night were wishing for a second chance, bemoaning the fact that they hadn’t done things differently, but not your father. I could tell, even right then when I didn’t even know who he was, that whatever your father had done to get himself banished to the Isle, he didn’t regret a bit of it. He burned with this intensity, this darkness that sent shivers down my spine even after all the things I’d seen since becoming a pirate. I’ve never seen anything like the darkness in your father, and it took me longer than it should have to realize how much I loved it. I went over, introduced myself, made the usual conversation. When we found out we were both from Corona things went a little deeper; suddenly we had a connection. We watched out for each other while the new system of living got itself sorted out, and then we kept up contact after that. I think it helped both of us, to not feel so alone in the world. Eventually the age difference between us hardly mattered anymore. And I came to terms with the fact that I loved Varian. Maybe it was a twisted, villainous, evil kind of love, but it was love. And do you know what I fell in love with, Via?”

  
Via shook her head, too caught up in the story to want to break the spell with words. Caine smiled.

  
“I fell in love with that cold look in his eyes whenever someone mentioned Rapunzel. I fell in love with the way he’d square his shoulders, draw himself up like he was ready for a fight, whenever he thought about her. I loved the way he never accepted his fate, how he tried to break the barrier and just never _stopped_ trying no matter how many times he failed. I loved his passion, his intensity, his one singular focus on making his betrayer pay. I loved the way it consumed his every waking moment, how he never even thought about moving on or letting go. I loved the wickedness in him, Via. I loved the black heart I found beneath his unassuming exterior.”

  
She laughed a little. “When he finally realized that he loved me back and asked me to marry him, I said yes without a second’s thought. We got someone else from Corona, some fellow named Andrew, to walk me down the aisle, and we got Claude Frollo to officiate. That was a mistake. The old windbag took almost an hour before he even let us say our vows. Half the guests were asleep by the time it was all finished and we were saying I do, but what was done was done. And then just a few months later we realized you were going to be joining us. I think your father worried more than I did when the time came; he was terrified that something would go wrong.”

  
“But it didn't,” Via said, a warm feeling coming over her at the thought of those long-ago days when her parents had first met.

  
“Nope. Went off without a hitch. You were screaming yourself blue in your tiny little face when they let your father in to see you, but from the minute he had you in his arms you were his world. That darkness I loved so much doubled itself after you were born; he hated the fact that you’d grow up on the Isle, that you were trapped there. From then on, everything he did he did for you, so that you could have the life you deserved. And then I left, when you were six, and I wish I hadn’t every single day. But there’s no need to get into that, and you know the story from there.”

  
She tapped Rudiger’s nose affectionately. “So that’s how it happened. I thought you should know, and I knew he wouldn’t have told you, not with me gone and all. Now seemed like a good time.”

  
Via nodded absently, thinking over what she had just heard. Why was now a good time? Why had Lady Caine chosen to tell this particular story on tonight of all nights? What did this have to do with her and Silas?

  
As if she could read her daughter’s thoughts, Lady Caine spoke again. “That’s what I want for you, Via- to have someone who loves you like I love your father. You don’t have to tell me this out loud, but I want you to think about it.”

  
She leaned forward again, her eyes revealing the fact that what she was about to say was of the utmost importance. “What is it about Silas that draws you to him? What is it about Silas that you love?”

  
She settled back, watching intently as Via worked through the question in her mind. She knew there was something, multiple somethings, that had lit that first spark in her when Silas walked through the door of New Dragon Hall, but she just couldn’t put her finger on anything specific.

  
Besides, there was another question bothering her. For a long moment she tried to find the answer to it, but nothing seemed forthcoming and finally she gave up. She had to ask.

  
“Mom,” she said, “why did you tell me that story? Why tonight, of all nights?”

  
“Mmm,” Lady Caine said, and Via saw with a shock that her mother was leaning back against the couch cushions, her eyes closed. “Well, there was a reason for it, I’ll grant you that, but I won’t come right out and say what it is just yet. I don’t want to influence you one way or the other. The real question is, Via-“

  
She sat up, her dark eyes lit with a sly, almost sinister light. “Why do _you_ think I told you that story?”

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Otherwise known as a shameless prequel-ish chapter because I wanted to work it in there somehow, but come on, don’t tell me none of you were at least curious about the early years. Why do you think Lady Caine chose to share the story with Via? 
> 
> Okay. Now I have something special to share with y’all. Remember how I said there would be some special opportunities in future chapters? Well, the first of those special opportunities has finally arrived. I’ve compiled a list of seven possibilities for Via’s Cotillion dress, and now it’s up to the readers which one she’ll choose. (We won’t see her choice for a couple chapters, but I’m putting this up now so we have plenty of time to get plenty of votes counted). Please don’t be shy about voicing your opinion!
> 
> Copy and paste this link into your browser to see the dress options: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1CkS8MIFZYnt6Niadl48N6eVq1OLeL90Uj2LCY-g1Z70


	13. A Fractured Friendship

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Via and Silas reach new heights in their relationship...and Gavin reaches his breaking point.

Via thought long and hard about the story Lady Caine had told her. But as the weekend wore on, her happiness began to overshadow everything else.

 

Silas had his secrets, but he didn’t seem to intend for his relationship with Via to be one. He took Gavin’s place at her side for the rest of that school week, slipping an arm around her shoulders or her waist, brushing a kiss to her hand or even her cheek. Via loved every minute of it, happy to gaze into his blueberry eyes and think that now, now he belonged only to her. Like every other villain in history, Via had decided what she wanted. Unlike most villains, she finally had it.

 

And she was happy, perfectly happy. When the other girls whispered in the hallways or stared with open jealousy as she passed by with Silas at her side, she felt her heart leap into her throat. When the boys slapped Silas on the back or goodnaturedly teased him for his open show of affection, she laughed. And when Lady Caine saw her glowing face and got that knowing look in her eye, Via no longer wondered about its meaning.

 

Silas didn’t wait for Cotillion, either. Thursday morning saw the pair of them seated across from each other in the cafeteria, feeding each other spoonfuls of ice cream. Friday found them sitting side by side under the spreading old oak tree outside New Dragon Hall, with Via’s head on Silas’ shoulder and Rudiger on Via’s lap. (Silas and his endless supply of apple slices had won Rudiger’s full approval, and he had been added to the list of the chubby raccoon’s adopted humans.)

 

Only two things in Via’s life weren’t perfect. One, Varian and the pirates still hadn’t returned from Neverland. In fact, they’d had no news in weeks. It was too soon to worry, but too long not to wonder where they were.

 

And two, as Via pulled Silas closer and closer to her heart, she unconsciously pushed Gavin farther and farther away. Once she would have hated that, would have gone to great lengths to win back her best friend. But as Silas began to mean more, Gavin began to mean less. With Silas’ help Via finally realized how restrictive, how controlling, how like his mother Gavin had been. She had no room for that. Silas had become, as he had said, her Flynn Rider. He was showing her a world she’d never seen, a world she fell in love with all over again each time she woke up in the morning. And Gavin had been left far behind, back in the tower, because when all was said and done Via just didn’t need him anymore.

 

He noticed. Of course he noticed. He made every effort to force things back to the way things were, to reclaim his place in Via’s life. But things had changed. Things were different now, and Via had less and less patience for his refusal to move on. She refused to let things go back the way they had been, and eventually Gavin gave up. He settled for the best he could, offering her longing looks and little, patronizing smiles, but Via never responded and finally he stopped trying. He sat in the shadows, silent and watching, always watching but never saying a word. He was easy to forget, and before long Via did just that.

 

Except for the few moments, once or twice a week, when she would look up and meet that familiar pale-blue gaze. The anger, the hurt and even hatred in a pair of eyes she had once known so well- it never failed to send a shiver up her spine. She pushed it away; villains didn’t listen to fear. She focused instead on her own heart, on how free and fearless she felt.

 

She no longer spared time for her pointless little experiments, the meaningless pranks and senseless tricks that served only to annoy her classmates. They didn’t mean anything anymore; she found it hard to believe that she had ever taken any sort of joy in them. As Silas pointed out to her, what was the point? What did it achieve besides making her classmates angry? Only the bigger experiments mattered, the projects that would cement her name in history and make her world even better than it was. Silas never failed to admire them, to praise her for the work just as Varian did, to make her feel special and valued.

 

The first time he did it was when Via showed him her stock of amber and black-rock powder, the two different strengths, breakable and unbreakable, of yellow-golden liquid that she had refined and perfected and now learned to wield as her own personal weapon. Silas had dipped a hand into the diluted, breakable version of the mixture, coating his hand in glasslike crystal. And Via had taken his fingers in her own and squeezed gently until the shards fell away. But he hadn’t pulled his hand back; he’d stayed there, gazing at her with a look of pride and wonder and something else, something that Via dared not put a name to for fear it was not what she thought it was, what she wanted it to be.

 

His next words dispelled that fear. “I love you,” Silas whispered.

 

She had gasped, or giggled, or blushed and tried to push the words aside. She couldn’t remember exactly what her reaction had been, only that the moment had sent her into a tailspin. Three little words, that’s all, she told herself. Just words. It wasn’t anything to get excited over, to lose her cool about. Three little words from a guy to his girlfriend, words that were said every day more than once, words that Via had heard before, from her father, her mother, even Gavin’s mother when Gothel was in an especially affectionate mood.

 

But somehow they seemed like so much more coming from Silas. They were just three little words, but in that moment she would have given anything for him to say them again.

 

* * *

 

Where Silas offered love, Gavin offered only hatred. His was a quiet darkness, an unassuming danger that was all too easy to forget about entirely. Via herself had no time to spare for Gavin, no patience for the troubling dark turn he had taken.

 

At least not until one afternoon, when she and Silas parted ways after yet another casual little date. Autumn was in full force now, and Via inhaled deeply, reaching up to tweak Rudiger’s tail as she enjoyed the scent of cold, crisp air, windfall apples and the pumpkins Cinderella’s stepsisters grew entirely out of spite. She pulled her teal scarf closer around her neck as she turned the corner onto her street.

 

And suddenly there he was, so close in front of her that she yelped and barely managed to avoid crashing into him. He didn’t look angry, not yet, but his eyes were filled with hurt and longing and something else, something nameless and much darker.

 

“Hey,” he said. It was soft, muted, as if he didn’t really expect her to answer.

 

“I don’t want to talk to you,” Via answered, brushing him aside, but she couldn’t ignore him so easily this time. He fell in beside her, and once again she noted how open and honest and vulnerable he was, how she could read everything he felt in his eyes.

 

“Come on, Via,” he said. “What are you doing?”

 

“I’m going home.”

 

“Not that. You know that’s not what I mean. What are you doing with him?” The tone of Gavin’s words left no doubt as to who “he” was. “First you tell me you’re not going to Cotillion, and when I ask you to go you turn me down. And not two days later you’ve got a date to the dance and you’re in the hallways kissing an absolute stranger who I already told you I didn’t trust-“

 

“That does it!” Via wheeled to face him, eyes blazing. “Where did you get this idea that I have to get your permission? Who are you to tell me who I can talk to, who I should trust? I don’t need you, Gavin! I’m the savior of the Isle, I’m the reason the villains- _including_ you- are out of the Isle in the first place, and yet you try to keep me in a trap still! Looking after me, making me believe the way you believe, trying to make me see the world the way you want me to see it. Well, I’ve got news for you. I’m seeing the real world now, and I love it, and I am never going back. I have Silas, and I’m happy, and I feel free for the first time in my life. I don’t care if you trust him. I don’t care what you think. So just leave me alone already!” The final phrase came out as a sharp, angry cry.

 

For a long moment Gavin said nothing. When he did speak, his voice was husky and he blinked too often, as if he was struggling to keep back the tears. “What’s happened to you, Via?” he whispered. “You’ve changed. You’ve changed so much, and I don’t like it. You’re not you anymore.”

 

“I’m more myself than I’ve ever been,” Via retorted, and behind his glasses Gavin’s eyes flashed.

 

“No,” he said. “No, Via, you’re not.”

 

“Who are you to tell me if I’ve changed!” Via shouted, her own emotions rising higher now. “Who are you to tell me anything!”

 

“I thought I was your friend!” Gavin shouted right back at her. “But apparently I was wrong about that, because you certainly haven’t been treating me like a friend would.”

 

“Oh, yeah?” Via shot back. “Well, it’s about time you woke up, then, Gavin, because I’ve never played the nice girl. I’m a villain. You want somebody to be your perfect little princess and do everything you say with a smile and no questions asked, why don’t you just go join up with the heroes?”

 

“Maybe I will!” Gavin retorted. “Anything’s better than you stabbing me in the back.”

 

“So that’s what this is about. You’re jealous of Silas because I turned you down for him. You think I betrayed you. Well, now the truth comes out, doesn’t it!”

 

“No!” Gavin sped up his pace to catch up with Via, who had stormed off in fury. “No, Via, that’s not what this is.  When I told you it was fine that you turned me down, I meant it. What’s not fine is you immediately forming a relationship with some smooth-talking stranger who keeps a thousand secrets. Via, he could be anyone. He could be a hero in disguise sent just to hurt you. All I’m trying to do is warn you that there’s going to be trouble and ask you to do something about it. Like your father did, with the black rocks, remember? Don’t be Rapunzel. Don’t ignore me until suddenly you’ve started something you can’t stop.”

 

Until he said that name, that hated, horrible name, Via had started to listen to him, started to feel the fire in her fade. But as soon as the word “Rapunzel” slipped out of Gavin’s mouth, the anger flared up again. She whirled on him, her blue eyes blazing.

 

“Don’t you ever say that again!” she shouted. “You don’t get to compare me to her. And you don’t get to say you’re anything like my father, Gavin, because you’re not, you’re not! Silas isn’t some black rock waiting to rip me apart. Silas is everything I ever wanted.”

 

She leaned close, her eyes dark and hard and wicked. “And you’re not,” she said. Clearly. Coldly. Cruel.

 

Something flickered in Gavin’s face, and he held up his hands apologetically. “Via, I’m sorry,” he said, reaching out to brush her sleeve. “I’m sorry, alright?”

 

“It’s too late for that,” Via said harshly. “Just stay away from me.”

 

She pulled away and almost ran down the street, slamming her door behind her.

 

For a long moment Gavin stood staring after her, and slowly his eyes turned steely and cold.

 

“Alright, Via,” he said.

“I tried to warn you.”

 

But there was no one to hear him.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So yeah. That would be that. I promise I know where I’m going with this, and we’re on our way to Climax Town as of this chapter.
> 
> Now, a couple things. I’m going to take the opportunity to ask you guys- are you enjoying this story? How does it compare to the original? What are your guesses for what’s to come? And, most importantly...what do you want to see? What would make you have that super happy moment of “this is awesome?” What do you, as my readers, want to see?
> 
> Also, if you haven’t done so already, please go back to the previous chapter’s notes and vote for our lovely Via’s dress. I really do want to hear from you guys on this one, and on anything at all! Comments make me happy and keep me going on this whole thing. Send me your OCs for cameos, give me your feedback and reactions, and tell me anything you want! I’m here to hear from you!


	14. Cotillion Couture

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Via and a handful of her friends shop for their dresses...and Via’s got her own ideas of what she wants.

Via wouldn't have admitted it, not for anything. She was a villain, after all. She was the Barrier Breaker, and she had a reputation to uphold. And in the two-and-a-half hours since she'd been kidnapped, upholding that reputation had become the most important thing in the world.

 

She knew her captors, every single one of them. They pressed close around her, hemming her in, keeping her trapped. Their voices rang in her ears. She couldn't make much sense of the conversations, though now and then she caught a burst of laughter. She was in unfamiliar territory now, and to make matters worse, she had not a single bit of alchemy with her. Yes, as improbable as it was, Via, daughter of Varian, was weaponless on foreign ground, held captive by the very ones she had trusted most...

 

And not for all the gold in Corona would she have admitted how much she was enjoying it.

 

"Oooh, I think I like this one!" Maya held up a long, elegant swath of deep purple silk, embroidered with steel gray. "What do you think, girls, should I try it on?"

 

Even Via, who was doing her best to pretend that she was entirely unenthused with the ritual of shopping for Cotillion dresses, could see how nice the colors of the dress looked with Maya's pale complexion and ruby-red hair. "Do whatever," she said off-handedly, keeping up her act. "I still hold to my claim that I was brought here against my will. I've got villain things to do." She held out a hand and examined her fingernails, knowing exactly what the other young villainesses of New Dragon Hall (the ones responsible for her "kidnapping") would say if they knew just how interested she really was. Already Rosa and Rowena had selected their dresses; if Maya went with the one she'd just taken into the fitting room, Via's turn would be next.

 

The entire afternoon had been, at least by the standards of a pack of VK girls, an extraordinarily girly occasion. From shoes and makeup and a thousand different debates over how to do their hair, and now finally to Cruella DeVil's new fashion outlet to select the all-important dresses, getting ready for Cotillion had almost made Auradon girls out of all of them. And no one had had more fun than Via, though she kept that little bit of information buried deep.

 

"Alright," Maya said, emerging from the depths of the fitting room with a dramatic twirl, the purple and gray whatever-it-was swirling around her ankles. "What's the verdict, ladies?"

 

Rowena let out a delighted little shriek. "It goes beautifully with your skin tone! I love it!" Rosa declared. "Meh," said Via.

 

( _Oh my wickedness, she looks fantastic_ , Via thought).

 

Maya, not being a mind-reader, only slapped her playfully on the shoulder. "Oh, shush, Miss Super-Villain," she ordered. "I'm going with this. And as soon as I get changed back into my regular clothes, it's your turn."

 

_Finally_! "Do I have to?"

 

"Yes!" the other girls chorused all together. Via rolled her eyes.

 

"I would have thought someone would be a little more excited," Rosa said, her green eyes sparkling mischievously. "Seeing who you're going with and all. You know, Via, half the girls at school would give an arm and a leg to be in your shoes on Cotillion night."

 

"That might make dancing a bit awkward," Via said dryly, but her heart gave a little twinge of pleasure at the reminder in Rosa's words. She was going to Cotillion with Silas. She was the chosen partner of someone who could have had any girl in the school. She'd won what she wanted.

 

Ignoring her protests, the other girls swept her up and all but carried her between them to the section of dresses that incorporated Via's trademark teal and black. Right away Via made up her mind not to settle for just anything; at Silas' side, the center of attention, she would need to look stunning. Keeping up her pretense of disinterest while finding just the perfect dress would be difficult, but she was willing to play the game.

 

"This is nice," Rowena suggested, holding up a long dress of teal and black that sparkled with tiny silver diamonds every time it caught the light. Via gave her an incredulous look.

 

"With that neckline? My dad may be a villain, but he's still got a very solid definition of "fine" and "not fine." He'd kill me if I put so much as my big toe outside the house in that thing."

 

“How about this?” Rosa asked, pointing to a short, light blue dress covered in black lace, with a skirt that flared into blue and black stripes.

 

“That’s not my teal,” Via answered. “I may not care about this dress thing but I want to be somewhat recognizable. You know, “oh, there’s Via!” instead of “hey, who’s that?”

 

“Okay, okay,” Maya said. “We get the idea. This?” She gestured to a similarly striped dress with a plume of black tulle falling down one side.

 

“Too dark,” Via said. “That color’ll make my eyes pop, and I don’t mean in a good way. I mean like a bug.”

 

And so it went. With each and every dress the other girls suggested, Via found some reason to turn it down- without ever seeming too interested in the dress decision itself.

 

The deep teal dress with black lace and a bow at the side? “Neckline again. Even my mom wouldn’t let that one fly.”

 

The very, very long dress that changed from black to teal as you went down? “I’m too short for that! It would come down to _Rosa’s_ ankles. _I’d_ be wearing the last eight or nine inches around my feet like a Christmas tree skirt. Next!”

 

The pretty black two-piece that opened out on a ruffled teal border down the side? “I have to admit I like that better than the rest of the things we’ve looked at, but Silas likes tradition. He’d have a cow.” (Via was not entirely sure this was true, but it made a good excuse and when did a villain ever stop to think about a little white lie?)

 

Eventually the other girls stopped making suggestions and just followed her around the dim, slightly haphazard interior of the shop, waiting for her to make up her own mind. She glanced over each dress in turn, pretending to be completely uninterested while privately finding reasons to reject each one.

 

And then, half-hidden by a pile of Cruella’s favorite furs, she spotted it. Despite her nonchalant act, she couldn’t hold back a little gasp, because the perfection of the dress took her breath away.

 

She could tell why it had been placed out of the spotlight, hidden away where only a sharp eye could find it. It was far from the fashion standard among the VKs in Via’s new world- it almost looked like a relic of Auradon. But at the same time, there was a villainous air to it that was exactly what Via had been wanting.

 

It was, plain and simply, a princess dress. More similar to a ball gown than a typical cotillion dress, it boasted a full, floor-length skirt and short, sheer puffed sleeves. The dress began black, but the skirt flared out into a deep, sinister teal that blended with the black in a way that reminded Via of the streak in her father’s raven hair. It wasn’t the kind of dress that belonged on the cover of a fashion magazine; this was a dress out of the past, more at home on a stained-glass window.

 

_That’s it._

 

She didn’t realize she had said the words aloud until she realized that the other girls were staring at her. She turned red, but repeated herself. “That’s it. That’s the one I want.”

 

There was a prolonged silence. “Well,” Rosa said slowly, “you did say Silas likes tradition. That just doesn’t look like...you know, _villain_ tradition.”

 

“It isn’t,” Via replied. “And that’s the whole point. I was an insider in Auradon; I became what they wanted and used it against them. That’s what this dress will do. It’s taking something of theirs and making it evil. Yeah, that’s the one I want.”

 

“What do you know?” Maya teased. “Villainous Via, taking an interest in Cotillion at last! Will miracles never cease?”

 

“Shut up,” Via said, turning even redder. “I’m gonna try it.” She pulled the dress free of the fur pile and walked a little more quickly than necessary to the fitting rooms.

 

She could tell, even before she looked in the mirror, that she loved it. It settled perfectly over her body, the full skirt flowing and swirling around her ankles without being so long that she tripped on it. She turned around, and at the sight of her reflection she felt a grin steal over her face. She looked like a princess...but darker. She looked like villain royalty.

 

Her heart in her mouth, she slipped out of the fitting room and went to find Rosa, Rowena, and Maya. She found them examining a stack of feather boas. Suddenly feeling a bit shy, she paused behind them and cleared her throat.

 

All three girls turned around at the same time, and the chorus of little gasps that arose at the sight of her told her all she needed to know.

 

“I was skeptical,” Rosa declared. “But Via, that’s amazing.”

 

“You look like Mal should have,” Rowena said. “Like she would have if she hadn’t turned traitor. Silas is gonna love you.”

 

_He already does._

 

“So this is it, then?” Via asked.

 

“Uh, duh,” Maya said. “You look fabulous. And you can bet there’s not gonna be another girl at Cotillion who’s wearing a dress like that. You’ll stand out for sure.”

 

“Okay, then,” Via said. And then, remembering her act, she added, “I’m gonna grab this, and then can we go get something to eat? We’ve been at this forever and I’m starving.”

 

She was greeted with three exasperated groans as they shepherded her toward the front of the shop to pay for (or abscond with, if they dared) their purchases. Being slightly afraid of Cruella, as was every other intelligent human, Via fell into the former category.

 

The conversation at the newly-refurbished Slop Shop, which had been a posh little tea shop in Auradon days and now resembled absolutely nothing of its former self, revolved almost exclusively around Cotillion. Via barely paid attention, wrapped up in her dreams of what the night would be like when it finally arrived, if it would measure up to everything she hoped it would be.

 

But one question did manage to catch her attention. “It’d be a shame if Harriet, CJ and Harry had to miss this,” Rosa commented. “Not to mention Uma and Gil. Hey, Via, did your dad say when he and the others would be back?”

 

“Nope,” Via answered. “It’s all guesswork. No way to predict how long things’ll take.”

 

“Kinda strange that it’s taking them so long,” Maya said off-handedly. “I mean, Neverland’s not that far away, and all they’ve gotta do is put down a couple fairies and a mermaid or two. How hard can it be?”

 

“Who knows what’s keeping them?” Via said. “They could have run into some bad weather, been becalmed, had a sail rip...anything could have happened. I’m sure my dad and the others will be back for Cotillion.”

 

Rowena leaned forward, widening her eyes in a comic expression of suspicion. “Or maybe,” she said, “it was all a trap and the heroes have been playing us this whole time. The horror!” She held the back of her hand to her forehead, pretending to faint, and Rosa and Maya both laughed.

 

Via smiled too, but it was more than a little strained. Lady Caine and Maleficent had kept the reports of heroic activity under wraps as much as possible; there was no reason why Rowena should think her statement was anything more than a joke. The other girls could laugh.

 

But only Via knew that Rowena’s comment might well turn out to be truer than anyone had imagined.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, okay. I apologize if I have any readers who aren’t interested in clothes and found this chapter totally boring. This was just me indulging my slight obsession with fancy dresses. Anyway, their weren’t really enough votes to make a decision, so the final choice fell into my hands. And I just couldn’t shake the idea of Via taking an Auradon look and making it evil. So she’ll be heading to Cotillion in Dress Number Five.


	15. Changing

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Via and Silas have a long talk, and some things come to light that neither of them knew about themselves.

Via didn’t sleep well that night. The conversation about her father had her worried. What if something had gone wrong? What if Varian was in some sort of trouble? What if...what if...

  
_What if I never see him again?_

  
She tried her best to banish the dismal thoughts, but when she woke up that morning- Thursday morning, two days before Cotillion- she still felt as anxious and worried as she had the night before. Rudiger, sensing his human’s distress, nosed his way beneath her hand and lay there purring, gazing up at her with his large, dark, understanding eyes.

  
“I’m scared, buddy,” Via whispered. “I’m really scared.”

  
He gave a soft chirp and arched his back, swishing his ringed tail over her wrist comfortingly. Via laughed a little in spite of herself and picked him up, holding him at arm’s length to look into his inquisitive little face.

  
“Alright,” she said. “Enough of this moping around, huh? There’s no school today because of Cotillion; you and I are going to go do something to get our minds off the whole Dad situation. Come on.” She changed into her signature teal and black outfit and pulled her dark curls back into their usual ponytail, all but the blue streak, which she allowed to dangle freely at the side of her face. She made sure to dress warmly enough for the autumn day; Rudiger appreciated that, making a nest in her scarf as soon as she set him on her shoulder. She actually walked downstairs instead of sliding down the banister, not wanting her father’s pet to lose his balance.

  
As she’d expected, Lady Caine was already gone, patrolling the streets for any signs of a heroic return. Via hunted through the kitchen, finding a box of frozen waffles for herself and an apple for Rudiger. 

As she ate, her eyes kept wandering to the trapdoor in the kitchen floor. It was locked now; Varian had taken the key with him to Neverland, determined to keep safe his secret project.

  
“What was he working on down there, hmm?” Via asked, rubbing behind Rudiger’s ears. “You’d tell me if you could, wouldn’t you, Rudi?” The raccoon squeaked in answer and pulled on the blue streak of hair. Via finished her last bite of waffle, gazing idly out the kitchen window. She could see the bare skeletons of the trees, the gray, cloudy sky, the roof of Gavin’s house.

  
She didn’t want to think about Gavin.

  
Suddenly it hit her, what she did want to do. Scooping up Rudiger, she opened the kitchen door and stepped out into the crisp, chilly day, heading across the yard to a little low building, worn and covered with ivy, that stood at the edge of their property. She pushed open the door with a creak, breathing in a sweet, musty smell and watching the pattern of sunlight filtered through the cracks in the old walls. She loved this place. She should come out here more often.

  
A low, soft sound greeted her entrance, and she grinned. Her mother’s horse stood with his head lowered over the stall door with his ears pricked forward, his attention captured.

  
“Hey, Axel,” Via said softly. She didn’t spend much time with the horse; he was mostly Lady Caine’s, and he wasn’t as young as he used to be. His orangey-brown mane was white at the edges and his black coat had faded a little, but his eyes still held that sinister spark that had always made him more than an ordinary horse. She stroked his velvety nose, laughing as Rudiger rubbed up against the larger animal’s cheek.

  
“How about it, Axel?” Via asked. “Should we go for a ride?”

  
Axel nickered in agreement, and Via wasted no time in saddling him up. Swinging aboard his back with Rudiger sitting in front of her, digging his claws into the saddle, she urged him out of the barn, through the yard, and out the gate into the street. He was full of energy, and Via let him canter as quickly as he wanted, enjoying the feel of the autumn wind through her hair and the cold on her face.

  
She didn’t know where she was going until she got there. But when she finally pulled back on the reins, bringing Axel to a stop, she knew exactly where she was and why she’d come.

  
She stood at the very edge of Auradon, a few yards from where the golden bridge had once been. The cold waves of the ocean lapped at the sand, and the breeze that blew off the water smelled of salt. It was lovely, in a lonely, foreboding way; nothing like the greenish sludge, filled with litter and algae and other completely unidentifiable objects, that had surrounded the Isle. A weatherbeaten bench sat on the soft white sand, and Via dismounted, leaving Axel to wander wherever he wanted, and occupied it.

  
Sitting like this, gazing out across the clear blue water, she could picture the _Blood Rose_ as it had looked the day she said goodbye, growing smaller and smaller as it neared the horizon. She forced the thought away, choosing instead to focus on the scene she hoped to see soon- the triumphant return of the _Blood Rose_ , bounding over the waves to bring her father back to her. What she had said to the other girls, about Varian returning before Cotillion, was unlikely now. The dance was taking place in two days, on Saturday night. For the raiding party to make it home by then would take a miracle.

  
“Or magic,” Via said out loud. If only they had the wand, or Mal’s spell book, or something of that nature that might be able to bring the missing ships home, she almost would have used it despite her aversion to magic. But those things had vanished with the heroes.

  
She never expected an answer to her words.

  
“What’s magic?” asked a familiar voice, and she jumped.

  
“What the heck, Silas? Where did you come from? What are you doing here?”

  
“I was walking down your street to invite you to a pre-Cotillion breakfast date, when you dashed right by on this beauty-“ Silas patted Axel’s neck, earning an appreciative snort from the horse- “looking like your world was falling apart. And no guy likes to see his girlfriend looking like that, so here I am.” He shrugged, stroking Axel’s nose.

  
In spite of herself, Via had to smile. “You’re good with him,” she said.

  
“I have experience with horses. I know how to work with them. And now, small talk aside- what do you need? Do you want to talk? Do you want advice, or do you just need me to be with you? I know something’s wrong, so let me help you.”

  
“It’s sweet of you to ask,” Via said. “Every time I think you can’t get any better, you go and prove me wrong.”

  
Silas grinned, gesturing for her to make room on the bench. He sat down beside her, crossing one leg over the other and throwing an arm around her shoulders. She pressed close against his side, resting her head on his shoulder.

  
“You know, Via,” he said, “I’m not the only one who just keeps getting better. I think about that girl I met at the beginning of the school year, and you’re so different now. Remember? Way back then you didn’t trust me, went around the halls playing meaningless pranks, no purpose...and now you’re using your talents, letting me in, trusting me-“ he elbowed her gently- “even falling in love.”

  
“I would have been too much of a villain to do that, two months ago,” Via murmured. “And I never would have known what I was missing.”

  
“See? You’re changing. I’m changing. We’re becoming something else, together- something wonderful. This is what Mal found. This is what the heroes had. And now it’s ours.”

  
Even the words sent a thrill of pleasure through Via’s heart. “I never knew things could be like this,” she said. “I’m happy, Silas. I’m really, really happy.”

  
Then, as her gaze shifted to the cold blue water just a few feet away, she drew in a long sigh.

  
“If only my dad were here,” she said, “things would be absolutely perfect. But he’s not. And he should be. It’s been too long. I can’t shake the feeling that something’s happened, something’s wrong. He means so much to me; if I lost him-“

  
She trailed off, unable to finish the sentence through the thick, choking lump in her throat. Silas reached out and took her hand.

  
“I admire your father,” he said. “He’s different from the other Isle parents. He really does care about you. One look and you can see that. I’d give a lot, if I could have a dad like him.”

  
“Your dad isn’t...like that?”

  
“My dad isn’t there. I don’t even know who he is. Mom never talks about him, and she doesn’t like it when I ask. So I don’t. I figure if he’s anything like my grandfather, I’m better off not knowing.” Silas’ voice was soft, subdued, in a way Via had never heard before. “My point is, Via, that parents like that are few and far between. He loves you. And even if something happens, nothing could ever change that.”

  
Via smiled, feeling comforted for the first time in awhile. “How do you do that?” she asked. “How do you always know just what I want to hear?”

  
Silas looked at her, his mischievous eyes sparkling with something wonderful and unexplainable all at the same time. He leaned down, pressing a kiss to her cheek as he whispered into her ear.

  
“It’s called love.”

  
Via leaned in closer, letting him run his fingers through the blue streak in her hair. She was silent for awhile; there was nothing else that needed to be said.

  
But it was Silas, at long last, who broke that silence. “Don’t take this the wrong way,” he said. “But I would have thought, if you were feeling this way, you would have had Gavin with you. The pair of you seemed pretty close.”

  
Via scoffed. “He showed me his true colors,” she said. “He takes after his mother.”

  
“Mmm,” Silas said. “I’m sorry.”

  
“Are you?” Via asked. “You didn’t seem to get along with him.”

  
“I don’t. But you do. Uh, did. He’s your friend, and I’m sorry you’ve lost him. I know how much that hurts. I can’t say I’m not glad, though. I worried about you, with him. There was a...a darkness in him. It bothered me.”

  
“It was always there,” Via said. “But I never saw it. Not till I had you.”

  
Silas gently pushed her head back down onto his shoulder, reaching across her to stroke Rudiger’s fur.

 

“That’s what I’m here for, Via,” he whispered. “To help you see. To help you change. And to let you change me.”

  
“I know,” Via said. “Like you said. You’re my Flynn Rider.”

  
“And you’re my Rapunzel,” Silas replied. “And now that I’ve got you out of your tower, I’m never letting you go back.”

  
Via giggled. “Just as long as we don’t end up pushing Gavin out a window.”

  
Silas grinned down at her. “I promise I won’t. Unless he tries to stab me, in which case all bets are off and I’m counting on you to invent some miraculous alchemical serum to save my life in the nick of time.”

  
“I could do that,” Via said. “Not quite so sure about magical tears, though.”

  
“I’ll do without,” Silas said. “Speaking of which, you never answered my question from when I first walked up. What’s magic?”

  
Via smiled at him, tucking her legs up onto the bench and cuddling closer into his side.

  
“This,” she whispered, gazing out at the horizon that somehow didn’t seem so lonely anymore. “This is magic.”

  
“You took the words right out of my mouth,” Silas said, and they stayed there together for a long time, until the tide came up to their feet.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The intro of Axel! Hints as to Silas’ parentage! True love! Varian’s secret project! So many things happened in this chapter, and I can’t wait to see what you guys think of it all. Only one more chapter between us and the long-awaited Cotillion, and this story is drawing to a climactic close. What do you think that close might be?


	16. The Medallion

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A startling discovery forces Via to make a choice- and decide, once and for all, who is right and who is wrong between Silas and Gavin.

Via and Silas stayed that way on the beach for a long time, until the sky turned gray above them and they knew they were in for a storm. Then Silas shifted position, and with another soft kiss to her hand he pulled away.

 

“I should get going,” he said. “Me and a bunch of the guys are headed down to get our suits for Cotillion.” He made a comical expression of distaste, then bumped her shoulder gently. “You should head in, too. I don’t want you out in this storm.”

 

“Okay,” Via said. “Just...just give me a minute.”

 

“Sure,” Silas said, standing up from the bench and leaning back down to brush her hair back from her face. “Just get inside before this storm hits, alright? We can’t have you getting sick before Cotillion.”

 

“I’ll be there,” Via said. “I promise.”

 

Silas grinned. “You’re a lot freer with your promises these days,” he said. “Hey, promise me something else, okay? Stay away from Gavin until after Cotillion. If he’s going to do something drastic, it’ll be then.”

 

“Gavin won’t do anything,” Via said. “Maybe he’ll hate me for the rest of eternity, but he’d never try to do anything that serious.”

 

“You don’t know that, Via,” Silas replied. “He’s angry. Angry and desperate. He feels betrayed. People do crazy things when they feel that way. Look at- well, look at your father.”

 

“Point taken,” Via said. “Alright, then. I’ll steer clear.”

 

“That’s my girl,” Silas said. “I’ll see you at Cotillion, Via.”

 

And off he went, glancing back over his shoulder over and over again as if he didn’t want to lose sight of her. Via sat smiling after him until finally he was nothing more than a tiny speck in the distance.

 

While he’d been beside her, she’d felt comforted. But now that he was gone, all the loneliness came surging back. She stared out at the gray water, watching the way the wind whipped the waves into a frenzy. A cold tendril of air wrapped itself around her, and she shivered, digging her fingers deeper into Rudiger’s soft gray coat. “I should have worn gloves,” she muttered, turning to look over the back of the bench. “What about it, Axel, should we head home?”

 

_Chink_.

 

Via glanced down to see what had made the strange sound. There, right beside her foot, something shiny glittered in the sand. She bent to pick it up, turning it over and over in her fingers. “Silas must have dropped this,” she said out loud.

 

But she couldn’t imagine what the item was, much less why it would be in Silas’ possession.

 

It was a medallion, about the size of a large coin, but much thicker, made of a dull silver metal. It hung from a worn black string; Via could see where it had snapped, sending the trinket tumbling to the sand at her feet. The craftsmanship was much more delicate than anything she’d seen before, with perfectly smooth edges and lacy patterns covering the surface of the metal.

 

Except for the center, in which was carved something else entirely- a bold, clear capital A.

 

“An A?” Via whispered. “But that doesn’t make any sense! Silas’ name doesn’t start with-“

 

She broke off with a little gasp as Gavin’s warning blasted back into her mind. “He could be anyone, Via.”

 

What if it was true? What if Silas wasn’t Silas at all? What if that was the reason for his many secrets- he was playing a role, just like she had been? What if the boy she’d fallen in love with didn’t exist?

 

Via moaned out loud. “Oh, please, Silas, don’t let Gavin be right!”

 

She couldn’t stand the thought that Gavin, who had once been a friend and devolved so quickly into a bitter enemy, may be on the right track after all.

 

Via clutched the medallion in shaking fingers. She wanted to run after Silas this very second and ask what it meant, what he had been keeping from her. But she knew she couldn’t risk that. If Silas was planning something, if he was- Via swallowed hard at the mere thought of it- in league with the heroes, it could be dangerous if she revealed that she knew things were not as they seemed. She had to find some way to figure out the truth, without letting on that anything was wrong.

 

She had no idea how to do that. Because the one thing she had never been able to do was get a secret out of Silas. Even when she was only teasing him, making playful guesses at his parentage, he had never revealed a thing. So how could she get him to do it now, when it was a matter of life or death?

 

Tears pricked her eyes as the wind whipped around her. She loved him so much, so very much; she knew that now that she was threatened with the prospect of losing him. She knew what her father had felt that night, dragged out of Corona’s castle and thrown into the cold: that sick, hollow feeling of betrayal, of being alone in the world.

 

Suddenly she couldn’t stand to be there on the beach anymore. She turned quickly, setting Rudiger on Axel’s saddle and swinging up behind him, digging her heels into the horse’s side to urge him on, all but flying back to the house.

 

The wind chilled her through and slapped at her cheeks, turning them redder than cherries; tears spilled over from her eyes and left warm tracks down her face, and she clutched the medallion so tightly that her hand throbbed and that traitorous letter “A” left its imprint in her palm.

 

Via didn’t feel any of it. She was aware of nothing but her own thoughts, the anguished cry that tore through her mind in time to Axel’s hoofbeats, the single, all-important question that had become her sole focus.

 

_What aren’t you telling me? Who are you, Silas?_

 

* * *

 

The silver medallion turned end over end in the air, winking as it reflected the light. Via, lying flat on her bed, reached up, caught it, and threw it in the air again, repeating the motion over and over.

 

Rudiger, drowsing on the windowsill, followed the path of the coin with one sleepy eye. He chirruped worriedly, glancing over at Via with a look of concern. Since they’d reached the house almost an hour ago, she’d done nothing but sit there, toying with the silver trinket.

 

And crying. She’d been doing a lot of crying, grateful that her mother was still not home to see her.

The one thing she couldn’t do, under any circumstances, was let Lady Caine know what was going on. Via knew her mother. Caine would think nothing of hunting Silas down and running him through on the merest suspicion that he wasn’t being honest with her daughter. Until she knew for certain that Silas wasn’t who he said he was, Via’s love for him would not diminish in the slightest.

 

If he was lying to her, she vowed, the fires of hatred would burn brightly within her. She was like her father in that way- she never forgave a betrayal.

 

(A grim smile crossed her face at the thought of her father. This was the first time she’d been glad of Varian’s absence. Varian had been skeptical of Silas from the very beginning; if he had known that there was a possibility his inkling had been right, Caine’s wrath would be a mild summer breeze compared to his).

 

Pain throbbed dully in her heart. She had been so certain that her parents were wrong; she had fallen in love without a second’s thought as to what the consequences may be. And now she was paying the price. If this ended in heartbreak, there was no one to blame but herself.

 

She threw the medallion up in the air and caught it again, watching that awful letter A wink in the light.

 

A, A, A...what could that mean? Was it truly the initial of Silas’ true name? She had found nothing when she searched for villains whose names began with S. Perhaps that was because “Silas” didn’t truly exist. She knew, too, that most villains named their children alliteratively. The only exception she knew of was Rosa, whose father was known for breaking with tradition whenever possible. But she couldn’t think of any villain, or hero for that matter, whose name began with an A.

 

“Well, besides Aurora,” she said out loud. “But Audrey doesn’t have a brother. And if she does, it’s not Silas.” Even if he was acting, Silas had been genuine enough that she knew he was nothing like her spoiled, bratty former roommate.

 

She had to come up with something, some plan of action that didn’t mean getting her parents involved. She had to find the truth somehow, but she wanted to do it in a way that ensured her relationship with Silas would still remain intact if the matter of the medallion turned out to be a misunderstanding. She had to be careful. She had to be smart. And she had to do everything on her own.

 

In times like these, there was one thought that always seemed to help her. It had come to her in the darkened chemistry lab of Auradon Prep, when she’d figured out how to trigger the magic bridge; it had come to her earlier than that, when she designed her red-hot exploding weapons and again when she first began to play her role in Auradon.

 

_What would Dad do if he were here?_

 

How would Varian go about untangling this muddled mess? How would Varian uncover a secret?

 

A secret. Her father knew secrets. Her father had exposed the biggest secret of the kingdom. And she could do the same.

 

Via sat up, clenching the medallion in her fist. Her eyes wandered over her room, over the dresser with its family photo and its alchemical mish-mash of ingredients and vials, over the chaotic mess of school supplies and in-progress experiments covering her desk. And she found her answer. She knew what she was going to do. If Silas had nothing to hide, he would never be the wiser. And if he did, the truth would come to light.

 

“But,” she said out loud, causing Rudiger to lift his head and stare at her, “the only problem is, I can’t do it alone.”

 

Who could she turn to? She couldn’t tell Caine, and Varian was gone. She couldn’t tell the other villain girls, who couldn’t be trusted to keep the secret. And she certainly couldn’t tell Silas. She had no one left who could be trusted with her risky plan.

 

“Now I know why Dad did this alone,” Via told the raccoon. “What am I going to do, Rudi?”

She cuddled him close, glancing down at her cell phone, which lay abandoned on her bed.

 

She wasn’t out of options. Not yet. Not entirely. There was one last number on that phone, one person she could call who would be there in a heartbeat, one person who could help her carry out her plan.

 

But she hadn’t called that number in a long, long time. Her finger shook over the button. She bit her lip, trying to make up her mind.

 

She wouldn’t have done it if she had had any other choice. But she didn’t. This was, as her father had once said, her only remaining recourse.

 

She closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and pressed the button. The shrill ring of the other person’s phone echoed in her ears; it only rang twice before the phone was picked up. The voice that answered was one filled with complete and total shock.

 

“Via? What in the world are you-“

 

“I need you to listen to me,” Via interrupted. “And listen good. I think I’m in trouble.”

 

There was a long silence.

 

“Alright,” the voice said. “Tell me what you need me to do.”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright, let the theories begin! Is Silas really who he says he is? What’s the significance of the medallion? Is something going to happen during Cotillion? What’s Via’s plan, and who did she just call? There’s a lot going on in this chapter, so I’ll leave you guys to talk about it as you please. Tune in next Friday for the long-awaited Cotillion!


	17. Cotillion

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The long-awaited Cotillion finally arrives, and for once Via simply gets to live her dream.

“There,” Lady Caine said, tucking a final strand of hair behind her daughter’s ear. “Finished.”

  
Via opened her eyes, staring at herself in the mirror her mother held up. A little gasp escaped her lips at the sight that met her eyes. She looked like an entirely new person.

  
Her dark curls had been pulled up into a bun high up on her head, all except a small section that included her blue streak, which had been swept stylishly across her forehead. Her lashes had been darkened, her eyes shadowed with the same dark teal as her dress.

  
Her dress. The ballgown fit her perfectly, spilling to the floor in a flood of evil elegance that stole away something of Auradon and made it worthy of the Isle. It made her look even paler than she usually did, which in turn made her steely blue eyes the center of attention.

  
“You look good,” Lady Caine said. Coming from her mother, Via knew, that was the highest praise.

  
“He’ll be here soon,” Lady Caine said. “I’ll go get your picnic ready.”

  
Via and Silas had made plans for Cotillion a long time before tonight. Neither one wanted to stay late socializing; they wanted each other’s company alone. So, after the dancing had died down, they’d decided to slip away for a moonlight picnic by themselves. Silas chose the location, refusing to disclose it, and Via had spent the day laboring in the kitchen, creating a feast of ham sandwiches, apples, and chocolate chip cookies- simple, but Silas had assured her it was plenty.

  
Via no longer felt as betrayed by Silas. Once the initial emotion of finding the medallion had faded, her love for him had returned. She now accepted that there was probably a perfectly reasonable explanation for the medallion, and she was determined to enjoy Cotillion and worry about it later.

  
(She was prepared, nevertheless, to get that explanation, whatever it was, when the time was right).

  
So when the knock sounded on the door, Via jumped up and almost flew to open it. And there he stood, dressed in a black suit with familiar notes of his trademark raspberry. His rusty hair was slicked back, his eyes sparkling as he looked at her. He made a mock bow, and she curtsied in exchange, allowing him to slip a corsage of deep teal flowers onto her wrist. He held her hand for a moment after he had finished.

  
“You look beautiful,” he said. Softly. Sincerely. “Beautiful. And perfect. I’ve dreamed of seeing you like this. My princess.”

  
Via blushed, giggling. “Okay, okay, tone it down, Romeo,” she said. “Save it for when we’re done dancing.”

  
“Have her back by one or I will stab you,” Lady Caine said, handing Via the picnic basket. “And have fun!”

  
“Yes, ma’am,” Silas said quickly, running a hand nervously through his hair. He took Via’s arm, escorting her down the driveway. “Your father hasn’t-“

  
“Not yet,” Via said. “But he will. Soon. I know it.”

  
Silas didn’t contradict her.

  
As they walked to the school, they ran into several other villain couples walking the same direction. Harmoni, the daughter of the Horned King, strolled arm in arm with Andreas Slade, who looked, to put it mildly, more relieved to actually have a date than anything. Rosa, who was considered one of the most beautiful girls in school, was walking beside Ra’ad Bing, laughing as three or four other villain boys surrounded her, showering her with compliments. Maya, who apparently had decided that she didn’t need anyone else to have fun, was completely by herself and seemed entirely cool with it. The mood was both celebratory and as romantic as a bunch of villains could get.

  
Via’s happiness only increased when they reached the school itself. In what had been a wide open field used for the study of native animals and wildlife, a giant black pavilion formed of twining, evil-looking scroll patterns had been set up. Strands of tiny green and purple lights hung from poles; a long table groaned under the weight of pastry plates and punch bowls and a very large chocolate fountain. An odd kind of music, soft and romantic yet dark and villainous at the same time, echoed in the air. Pairs of villain kids strolled over the strangely enchanting setup, talking, laughing, eating and dancing. It was nothing like the wild, manic parties Via had never been invited to on the Isle. No, tonight the whole school was doing exactly what Via had done with her dress- taking something that had belonged to Auradon and making it evil, making it theirs.

  
She could tell, as she walked into the party on Silas’ arm, that she was, as she had dreamed, the center of attention. Silas was the boy that all the girls wanted, and she the girl they wished they were. She lifted her head a little higher, straightened her shoulders and tried her best to picture the way that Mal had looked when she walked down the stairs with Ben on Via’s first day in Auradon- proud and confident, demanding all eyes be turned to her. Tonight she wasn’t the daughter of a disgraced Coronan peasant-turned-alchemist; tonight, she was royalty.

  
And Silas made her feel like it. He had eyes for no one but her all evening; even when they were talking to the other VKs they were somehow still in their own little world. He made it clear that she was his choice, his princess, and that no other girl mattered in the least. He accompanied her through dance after dance after dance, turned down invitations from anyone else, brought her glasses of punch and plates piled high with pastries, talked and laughed and whispered his sweet little flatteries into her ear.

  
And Via was perfectly, entirely happy. Even the painful absence of her father seemed to fade as she looked into the blueberry eyes of the boy she’d lost her heart to, the boy who had changed her so very, very much.

  
The night was magic. Via was fully convinced of that. Only magic could have drawn such a misfit crowd of villains and sidekicks and henchmen and made something beautiful out of it. Watching the other couples- some pairings that were expected, and others that were completely out of the blue- and seeing how in love everyone else seemed, Via could only thank whatever dark fairies must have come together to make this night a possibility.

  
Some of the Auradonian traditions were, of course, dispensed with. There was no blowing of trumpets to announce the entrance of royalty- the only true royalty was Mal, and she had chosen the opposite side. There were no parents hovering over the party to chaperone; most of the villain parents didn’t really care what happened to their kids. And there was no winning couple chosen as Cotillion Prince and Princess; such royal titles held no honor, or even interest, on the Isle.

  
But if there was a winning couple, Via thought proudly, she and Silas would have been it.

  
With a night so utterly perfect, she almost expected something to go wrong, just to fit better with the pattern of her life. But nothing happened. No trouble reared its ugly head. Even Silas pointed out as much as he led her through the steps of yet another dance.

  
“No sign of Gavin,” he said.

  
“No sign of the heroes attacking, either,” Via replied. Silas shook his head.

  
“They won’t. Not here. Too many villains, too much power all in one place. Gavin’s the one I was worried about. He’s come unhinged enough to try something no matter how many people there are to witness it.”

  
“I almost wish the heroes _would_ attack tonight,” Via mumbled under her breath. Silas raised an eyebrow.

  
“Why on earth would you want that?”

  
“Because if they’re here, that means they’re not in Neverland luring my dad into a trap.”

  
“What?”

  
“Never mind. It’s stupid. Mom and I both just had a really bad feeling about this trip, is all, and he’s late getting back. It’s got me worried.”

  
“Understandably so,” Silas said. “The connection between the pair of you is strong for a villain and their kid. Even stronger than what I have with my mother, and that’s saying something. I wouldn’t worry about it, Via. If I had to guess, I’d say things with your father will work out just as they ought to.”

  
He pulled her closer, wrapping an arm around her shoulders. Via let him do it, cuddling close against his chest like Rudiger often did with her. After a moment he slid his hand gently under her chin, tipping her face upwards to meet his gentle smile.

  
“Tell me something, Via,” he said softly. “Forget your father for a minute, and answer me one question. Are you happy?”

  
Via didn’t even have to think about her reply. Right here in this moment she could put everything but Silas out of her mind- Gavin, Varian, the silver medallion emblazoned with an A- all of it. And right here, in this moment, she was happier than she had ever been.

  
“Oh, Silas, yes,” she said. “I wish I could feel like this forever.”

  
Silas’ smile grew brighter, and he squeezed her hand. “Maybe you can, Via,” he whispered. “Maybe you can. And someday, someday soon, I’ll show you how.”

  
“When?” Via asked, as he released her hand for a moment, following the steps of the dance. He reached out and caught it again, and his reply was just as cryptic as she had expected it to be.

  
“When you’re ready. And you almost are.”

  
Via smirked. “Oh, Silas. You know what they say about me.”

  
He dipped her down low, leaning down with his familiar grin playing across his features. “I’ve heard a lot of things,” he teased her. “What, Via? What do they say about you?”

  
Via’s smirk widened. With a single quick movement she flipped herself upwards, reversing their positions so that she was now staring down at Silas. “I’m as ready as I’ll ever be,” she said, her silvery blue eyes twinkling.

  
For a moment Silas looked taken aback. But then a gleam came into his own eyes, and he threw back his head and laughed. Via laughed too, a bright, musical sound in the darkness, and he pulled her close to him again. They stood there for a long time, together, letting the music and the dance go by without them, lost in each other’s eyes.

  
“I think,” Silas said slowly, “I think maybe you’re right about that. I think maybe you’re ready.”

  
Via only grinned, fluttering her eyelashes exaggeratedly and bringing another low chuckle from Silas. As the song ended, she took his arm and led him off the dance floor, through the milling crowd of other couples, past the pavilion and the snacks table and the strings of twinkling lights.

  
“You know what I’m ready to do right now?” she said, retrieving her picnic basket from the bush where she’d stashed it safely away from prying eyes. “I’m ready to get out of here and go see that special place you’ve picked out for us. I spent all afternoon working on this picnic, and I intend to enjoy it.”

  
Silas swept a mock bow, grand and low. “As you wish, princess,” he said. “Allow me to escort you.” He took her arm gallantly, and Via giggled again.

  
“So where are we going?” she asked. “I forgot.”

  
“Nice try, sweetheart,” Silas said. “I never told you. You won’t know where we’re going until we get there. It’s a surprise.”

  
Via stuck out her lip in a pretended pout. “You know, I’ve never been one for surprises,” she said. Silas only grinned.

  
“Then we’d best get going, shouldn’t we?” he said. “Wouldn’t want to keep you in suspense.”

  
He took the picnic basket from her as if it weighed nothing at all. And together, hand in hand, the pair of them slipped quietly away.

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow, sorry this one’s so late, guys! We had an unexpected visit from some relatives we rarely see, so they were my priority this weekend. Next chapter should be up on Friday as usual, and I’ll just say that one answers a lot of this story’s burning questions.
> 
> Anyway, hope you enjoyed the Villain Cotillion! More was supposed to happen in this chapter, but I figured our girl should get one moment of happiness before things go haywire. Which they will. Next chapter, in fact.
> 
> Also, how about that Season 3 news? I have never screamed as loudly as I did when I saw Jeremy Jordan’s tweet announcing Varian’s return. I’m not sure who I love more now, the actor or the character. 
> 
> Just in case anyone needed me to say it, Season 3, for this fic series, is going to be like D3. Unless I really like part of it and want to use it for the plot, it’ll go out the window. And obviously, if our favorite alchemist ends up with a redemption arc, it’ll not be canon for this story. Just consider things canon-divergent from Season 3 onwards. Cool? Cool.
> 
> (One other thing- unfortunately, from here on out, OC requests are CLOSED. I may bring them back for the final fic in the trilogy, and if I already told you your OC would be featured in the third installment then they certainly will be. I hope you all enjoyed your characters’ cameos in the Via-verse, and thanks to everyone who submitted an OC!)


	18. And Nothing But the Truth

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Silas offers Via something no villain has ever had. But before she accepts, she asks for one small thing- the truth.

 

“Whoa,” Silas said, his eyes widening. “I have never seen anyone put a ham sandwich away that fast.”

“It’s all the dancing,” Via laughed. “It made me hungry. And these are my favorite.”

“I figured.” Silas reached for a cookie, closing his eyes in pleasure as he bit into it. “Mmm. You did great on this picnic, Via, really you did.”

“Oh, please. It’s nothing special. Nothing like this gorgeous hilltop. I feel like I could reach out and touch the moon.”

“It doesn’t have to be special,” Silas said. “Because you are.” Swallowing the rest of the cookie in one quick bite, he shifted position and took both of her hands in his, staring into her eyes in a way that suggested that whatever he was about to say was very, very important.

“You’ve changed, Via,” he said. “You’ve become someone I never thought you could be. Someone I never thoughta villain could be. And tonight, I realized something. I realized, Via, that I love you. And I don’t think that’s ever happened before. Kids like us, from our background, finding a love like this. It’s something a villain has never had before. And tonight- if you’ll let me- I’d like to give you something else that a villain’s never had before.” 

Suddenly he looked shy, embarrassed, but his hand lifted slowly to her cheek, cupping it gently, one finger running over her skin. “I want,” he said softly, “to give you true love’s kiss.”

Via’s breath caught. Oh, how she had dreamed of hearing him say those words. All the little caresses he’d given her on her hand, her cheek...those hadn’t been a real kiss. Not like this. Not like what she’d dreamed of. His lips on hers, creating that one special bit of magic that sealed every story, made every happy ever after. True love’s kiss. It worked every time.

She couldn’t even speak, but he understood. His hand moved upward, drawing her gently forward, his eyes fixed on hers with a look of such love within them. He leaned in, closer, closer.

And Via pulled back, ever so slightly. Silas stopped, a question in his eyes. “Via?”

“I can’t, Silas,” she whispered. “Not yet. I want to. You don’t know how much I want to. But I can’t. You’ve got to tell me something first.” She dropped her eyes. “Tell me, Silas. Tell me everything. Tell me who you really are. Tell me who your parents are. Tell me that I can trust you. And-“

She dipped a hand into the small pocket on one side of her dress. “Tell me what this is,” she said, dropping the silver medallion into his hands.

Silas looked down at the trinket, and then back up at her, a look of bewilderment on his face. “Where did you get this?”

“On the beach. You dropped it. Now tell me. What is it? What does the A stand for? Does “Silas” even exist?”

For a long moment Silas didn’t reply. “Okay, Via,” he said at last. “I’ll tell you.”

He drew a long sigh. “You asked about my parents. I can only answer half of that question. I don’t know who my father is. I’ve never met him, never- I don’t know. He didn’t want anything to do with me, or Mom.”

His blueberry eyes held a far-off, distant look. “My grandfather is the Baron of Vardaros. He hates me, hates Mom too even though she’s his daughter. He’s cruel and evil and I want nothing to do with him. My mother is from Corona, just like your parents. Her name is Stalyan. She was Flynn- Eugene’s- old partner. A thief, or at least she used to be. Rapunzel changed her, helped her change her ways. That’s why I didn’t grow up on the Isle; Mom wasn’t considered a villain anymore. I don’t belong to the Isle. I’m not a VK. But at the same time, no one in Auradon could ever forget what my mom used to be, and they made sure I never felt like I belonged on their side of the bridge either. I’m too good for the villains and too bad for the heroes.” He laughed ruefully. “It’s...not a great position to be in. That’s what the medallion’s about. That A doesn’t stand for my name; my name really is Silas. The A stands for Antihero. We all had one in the Antiheroes Club. The in-between kids, that’s what we were.”

Via sat frozen as her heart dropped down, down, down inside her, down like a stone in a deep, cold well. An antihero. Silas, her Silas, was an antihero.

And any true villain knew that the word “antihero” was synonymous with “traitor.”

Silas was still talking. “I wasn’t part of Yen Sid’s branch on the Isle, of course. Eugene, Rapunzel’s husband, ran one for the kids like me, the ones on this side of the barrier whose parents weren’t villains anymore. He’s, well, he’s like a father to me. Keeps an eye on me, treats me like a son. I’d be lost without him.”

There was such admiration, such devotion, in his voice. Via felt sick. How could he talk that way about Eugene Fitzherbert, Prince Consort of Corona, Heir to the Dark Kingdom, hero through and through?

“So that’s your side,” she said softly. “Eugene. Corona. Auradon. Not the Isle. Not the VKs. Not...not...” 

Her voice broke. “Why?” she exploded. “If you’re against me, then why are you here, dancing with me, telling me you love me, offering me true love’s kiss, why?” The final word rose to a shriek.

His reply was gentle, sincere. “Because I do love you, Via!”

She scoffed, turned away, tears burning her eyes. Quickly, Silas explained himself.

“I had an advantage, after you broke the barrier,” he said. “I was enough of a villain that you’d think I was one. You wouldn’t know better. So the heroes sent me to pretend I was a VK, to be an insider like you were. Your father was dangerous, and we knew he’d been planning something big. I was supposed to find out what he was up to.” He laid a hand on her shoulder. “And I was supposed to distract you. You’re just like him. You’re dangerous too.”

“Distract me?” Via cried. “From what?”

“From the hero army in Neverland. We needed the villains to be concerned about the fairies, without knowing how much bigger things were. We needed the raid to happen. It was supposed to be Caine; we knew your father would trade himself for her. When he went himself, it made it easier. But Via, listen to me!” He stood up, reaching out for her as she turned away. 

“At first you were just that,” he said. “You were my mission, my target, the most evil VK there was. I hated you. For breaking the barrier, for releasing the criminals and destroying my home. But then I actually saw you. And you took my breath away, Via. I knew someone so beautiful couldn’t really be as wicked as I’d heard. And you weren’t!” His voice rose higher, triumphant and pleading all at the same time. “All you needed was the same thing Mal did- true love. You stopped building weapons, stopped tormenting your classmates, broke things off with your evil best friend. You proved that there was good in you. You’re not what they say you are, Via. You are good. You can choose good.”

The amber she’d put aside. The pranks she’d lost interest in. Gavin, who she’d thrown aside like so much garbage, just as Rapunzel had done with her father. All part of an elaborate betrayal. Via couldn’t breathe.

And still Silas went on. “These last few weeks, when you loved me. You were happy. You said it yourself. That was good, Via! That’s what goodness makes you feel. And I saw it in you, all the time, even when Caden and Cass said I was crazy, said your father had you too deluded, said you were too wicked. I knew you weren’t. I believed in you. I saw the best you could be, not what you were. You had the potential all the time to be a hero, and look at you! Look how much you’ve changed! It was all you, Via, all of it. All you needed was someone who really loved you.”

He was smiling, actually smiling, such a sweet and charming smile as if she was supposed to welcome the words spilling out of his mouth. She couldn’t bear the sight of it. She turned her back, head spinning, heart shattered.

After all of this. After all the hopes and dreams she’d had, all the love she’dallowed herself to feel for this boy...it was all nothing but broken promises. Nothing but lies.

Again.

Why hadn’t she seen it sooner? Why hadn’t she realized how much she was changing? Why had she allowed the girl she was, the _villain_ she was, to become so lost?

And her father. What had she inadvertently set in motion, far away in Neverland, by breaking her promise to keep things distant with Silas? 

Her father. Suddenly she whirled back on her betrayer, staring directly into those blueberry eyes she now loathed above all others. 

“I have someone who really loves me,” she spat. “His name is Varian. And if your hero cronies have so much as looked at him the wrong way, I will make Maleficent look as harmless as dandelion fluff. I’ll tear you apart. I vow it.”

The smile melted from Silas’ face, replaced by a look of confusion and concern. “No. No, Via, what are you saying? That’s not you. That’s not who you are anymore!”

She laughed in his face, a cold and caustic sound. “It’s me, Silas. It’s always been me. I know that now. The girl you fell in love with? Your antihero princess? Your _Rapunzel_?” Via’s lip curled in a sneer. “She doesn’t exist. Just like the villain boy I fell in love with, she’s nothing but an illusion. Nothing but a lie. This is me. The villain who’s standing here telling you that if any harm comes to my father I will make your life a living nightmare and I won’t stop until every last molecule of Auradon is destroyed- that’s me. You never knew me, Silas. If you really knew me you would know I’m nothing like Rapunzel.”

Her chest was heaving, her heart pounding in her chest and her mind lost in a tidal wave of emotion. Anger, predominantly, but also loss.

Because she’d loved him. She really had loved him.

Silas reached out, taking her hand again. There was disbelief, even heartbreak, written across his features. Had he believed her change as she had believed his lie? Had he loved her as she had him? 

It didn’t matter. He had lied to her, betrayed her, and in Via’s book that was unforgivable. She struck his hand from hers.

“Okay, Silas,” she said. “Okay. Now answer one last question. Did you mean to tell me any of this?”

She watched his face carefully as he processed her words, saw the flicker of bewilderment that crossed his features, the way his eyes widened in shock. He stumbled back a little. 

“N-no,” he stammered. “I didn’t want to- I wasn’t supposed to- why did I tell you?” There was panic in his voice now. “I wasn’t supposed to, not until true love’s kiss! I didn’t want to, I didn’t mean to! Why did I tell you? Why?”

He stared up at her through wide, wild eyes. But he found no sympathy there. Via’s own eyes were hard and stony, a wasteland of feeling, nothing in them but a solid wall of silvery blue. Calmly she dipped her hand back into her pocket and drew out something else, a small glass something that winked and sparkled in the light.

A glass vial. Full of liquid. Her father’s way of finding out a secret, improved by his daughter’s own skills, made transparent, tasteless, indistinguishable...

Until it was too late.

Via nodded toward the remains of their picnic, turning the bottle back and forth in her fingers, watching it catch the moonlight.

“You’d be surprised what people will tell you,” she whispered, “for a cookie.”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And that, ladies and gentlemen, is that.
> 
> In all seriousness, though. It really was the endgame that you, my lovely readers, were never meant to trust Silas. I wanted to show this relationship as a twisted version of Ben and Mal- Silas attempts to win Via over through true love, and almost succeeds, but this time the bad girl chooses to stay bad. That’s one of the things I wanted, was for everyone to be so focused on figuring Silas out that they failed to realize that Via almost wasn’t a villain anymore, like the character herself did.
> 
> But, when all is said and done, our girl’s a villain. Congratulations to all those who guessed Silas’ villain parent correctly! And with this chapter we see the fate of the branches of the Antiheroes Club (yes, I invented the Auradon Branch because come on, there’s gotta be plenty of kids like Silas and Eugene would totally take them on. Also, Eugene as the mentor to Stalyan’s son makes me happy.)
> 
> Now that we know what happened to the Antiheroes, what do you think would be the fate of your OC? How will Via react to this revelation about the guy she loves? How does Varian play into all of this? Let me know your thoughts in the comments!


	19. Make The Clock Reverse...

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Now knowing the truth about Silas, Via stands up to fight back, this time with someone by her side. But even outnumbered, Silas still has one card left to play.

A stunned silence fell over the hilltop. Via blinked away her angry tears and summoned her familiar smirk to her face, lifting her chin defiantly as she stared her traitorous boyfriend down. Silas’ mouth fell open, pain registering in his blueberry eyes as he stared at her. He swallowed hard as he processed her words, his gaze flicking to the remains of the picnic. Finally, licking his lips as if they’d suddenly gone dry, he spoke. 

“Truth serum?” he whispered. “You gave me truth serum?”

“How could I trust you after I found that medallion?” Via retorted. “It wouldn’t have done anything if you’d been telling the truth. I’d know that you were who you said you were, and no one would be the wiser. There would still be us. You and me. That’s what I thought- what I hoped- would happen. I wasn’t counting on this. But at least the truth’s come out, huh?”

“So you did love me,” Silas said softly. Via shook her head. “I loved the fake you. I loved the villain you never were. And if you can’t fall in love with the person I am, Silas, instead of trying to change me into something I was never meant to be, well-“ She leaned close to him, her voice dropping to a sinister hiss. “Then I’ll true love’s kiss you goodbye.”

“So that’s it then. You find out this one little thing, and you go back to being wicked. All your love for me turns to hate like-“ Silas snapped his fingers- “that?”

Via laughed. “Pretty much, yeah. You betrayed me, Silas, and the one thing my family’s got in common? We never forgive a betrayal. Never.” Her eyes glinted, cold and hard like the flashes of blue that reflected off the black rocks. “But if I were you, I’d be worried less about me and more about yourself. See, there’s a price when you break a villain’s heart. If I were any other villain kid, I doubt anyone would care that much. But I’m the Barrier Breaker. I’m kind of important. Besides, my parents are some of the few who actually care what happens to me, and I can guarantee they won’t be happy about this. Dad never liked you, you know. Lucky for you he’s off who knows where at the moment- I’m going to find out what your hero friends have done with him soon enough, I assure you- but you’ve still got my mother to deal with in the meantime. And one could argue that she’s almost worse.” Via grinned, an evil grin that would have sent a shiver down any hero’s spine. “You picked the wrong VK to win over. And you’re gonna regret every minute of false hope you ever gave me. That’s a promise.” She chuckled, running her finger over the smooth surface of the truth serum vial. “You know how I am about promises.”

Slowly, Silas clambered to his feet. His eyes shone with something that might have been tears; he blinked them away, reaching a hand inside the jacket of his suit. “Unfortunately for you, Via,” he said softly, drawing out a long, ruby-studded dagger, “you’re not the only one who came prepared. Mom made me promise I’d keep this close at hand, just in case the evil in you outweighed the good.” His jaw clenched. “From the look of it, I’d say that’s exactly what happened. I’m not going to kill you. But I am going to make sure you can’t free your father. And that you can’t hurt anyone ever again.”

Via dipped her hand into her pocket, gripping the red-hot explosive sphere that she had promised Varian, long ago, she would keep with her. “Bring it on,” she said darkly, drawing her arm back for the throw.

Silas tensed, driving the last bit of emotion from his face, steeling himself for the battle in a classic hero move. But as he raised the dagger, something swished through the air in an indistinguishable blur, knocking the dagger from his hand. His jaw dropped, and he whirled around. “B-b-but...what...you...”

Gavin Gothel rolled his eyes, coiling the knotted rope that he’d lashed out with. “Ugh, please speak up, Sylvester, you know how I hate the mumbling.” His eyes flicked to Via, and he held up his strange weapon. “You like this, Vi? It’s not a 70-foot invincible braid, but I figured it’d do the trick. I sent Rudi to get a note to your mom, by the way. I’d imagine she’s livid. And also on her way here with her entire pirate crew. Unless she’s been delayed somehow, or she didn’t get the note. Rudiger does know the way back to your house, right?”

“Gavin!”

“What?”

“Focus!”

“Oh. Sorry.”

Via only gave him a slightly-aggravated smile, turning her attention back to Silas. “That’s the other thing I forgot to mention. I brought backup. Yeah, I figured my “evil best friend” might be a good person to have on hand if you turned out to be a lying, traitorous, backstabbing hero.” She flung his own words back into his words. “From the looks of it, that’s exactly what happened. Thankfully, Gavin was loyal enough to be here for me _despite_ how badly you convinced me to treat him.”

Gavin’s cheeks turned pink, and Via grinned at him. It felt good to have her friendship- her only true friendship, it turned out- back again.

But Silas had a hero’s determination, the perseverance that led Good never to give up. He bit his lip, weighing the new odds of two against one...and then he dove swiftly to one side, scooping up his dagger in the same fluid motion. Gavin struck out with the rope again, and Via hurled the glass sphere with the shattering sound of an explosion. There was a bright flash and Silas gave a sharp cry, but he seemed only surprised, not injured, and the dagger still gleamed in his hand. Now weaponless, Via took a few steps backward, hate lighting its fire within her.

She kept her eyes locked with Silas even as she took a step backwards. He shook his head, mingled disgust and pity in his face. “I never wanted this,” he said. “I wish you wouldn’t make me. I don’t want to fight the girl I love.”

“That’s unfortunate,” Via shot back. “Because she doesn’t love you. Not anymore.”

Silas visibly flinched, pain hardening his features. He clenched his fingers more tightly around the dagger handle and took one single, determined stride forward.

That was as far as he got before the rope tangled around his ankles. Gavin, seeing his success, wound the other end quickly around his own wrist and jerked with all his strength, pulling the stronger boy off balance. Silas landed heavily on the ground; Gavin, underestimating the momentum, did the same. 

Via seized the moment. In less than a second she was on top of Silas, twisting the dagger out of his hand and pulling his arms behind his back, binding his wrists tightly with the rope. Slicing a section off with the dagger, she did the same to his ankles, then leaned over him. She looked wild in the moonlight- the dagger gleamed in her hand, and her dark blue- streaked hair had fallen loose from its elegant, hanging in her face, damp with sweat. Her makeup was smeared, her eyes blazing and her dress disheveled. Even in her ballgown, she had never looked less like a princess. She stared into his face, not a single shred of love remaining in her own. Mockingly, she raised her fingers to her lips and blew him a kiss. “Well,” she said, “that settles that, then.”

She pulled herself back to her feet, deliberately brushing off the dirt on her dress. “Are you okay, Gavin?” she asked.

Her friend nodded, wincing as he got back to a half-sitting position. “Only hurt my pride. That would have been cool if I’d stayed on my feet while I-“

His blue eyes went wide. “Via, look out!” he screamed, seconds before an incredible force slammed into the back of Via’s shoulder, sending her to the ground hard. Black spots danced on the edge of her vision, and for a moment she couldn’t breathe. Gavin’s shout brought her back to reality; groggily she looked up to see Silas, somehow free of the ropes, running as quickly as he could towards the top of the hill. Of course. Flynn Rider was his mentor; she should have known he’d know how to slip a rope. But he didn’t keep running. He came to a stop at the top of the hill, slipping his fingers into his jacket once again. His voice carried clearly despite the distance.

“You’re not the only one who planned something tonight, Via!” he shouted. “And there’s a reason I didn’t tell you where we are!”

There was a weapon in his hand, Via realized suddenly. Not the dagger- something else.

“Is that- is that the Fairy Godmother’s wand?” she cried, looking back at Gavin. He came quickly to her side, squinting.

“That, or one really close to it,” he said, his voice tight. “But what’s he gonna-“

As if in answer to his question, Silas raised the wand high. “Fight the darkness!” he shouted. “Fill the void! Rebuild what evil hands destroyed!”

A beam of golden light shot from the tip of the wand, arcing high into the sky and plummeting back to earth. Thunder cracked overhead with a deafening concussion of sound, and the ground beneath Via’s feet began to shake.

With a sound like tearing fabric, something pierced through the ground, growing up, up, up until it was nearly as tall as Via. “A black rock,” she whispered. “A black rock.”

Golden swirls of magical energy, not unlike the pixie dust she’d once experimented on, created a churning dome around the area where Silas stood, spreading further and further like a wave crashing onto the shore. And inside the dome, shapes began to emerge. Houses. Shops. Roads. 

A very familiar castle, brown with towers that were roofed with deep turquoise. 

Via sucked in her breath, and Gavin reached out to grasp her arm, white-faced.

Silas, standing in the center of it all, threw his head back in triumph, laughing like a madman, spreading his arms wide as if to embrace the whole of what his words had conjured up. Their task complete, the golden glow began to fade, the particles falling to the earth.

And all around Via, as if drawn to her, as if they knew how much she hated them, the black rocks were rising, circling around her like taunting foes. Pure panic seized her; she let out a very un-villain-like shriek, stumbling backwards in an attempt to escape them. She would have fallen over her own feet if Gavin hadn’t caught her, and dimly she registered that his hands were shaking.

The thunder ceased suddenly and abruptly. The earthquake took longer, fading gradually. The wand fell from Silas’ hand as he dropped to his knees, and the last of the magic particles dropped with him.

There were shouts in the distance now, angry ones. Lady Caine and her pirates had arrived. Silas made no effort to resist as two or three burly sailors dragged him roughly to his feet, tying him twice as tightly as Via had done. Even the fact that he was a hero captured by villains didn’t seem to bother him at all.

And why should it, Via thought bitterly. His task was finished. The worst that her mother could do to him would never undo what he had just done. She stood back up, running her hand over one of the gleaming spikes, watching her mother’s men drag him away with no emotion in her eyes, no feeling at all.

“Via,” Gavin whispered beside her. “Did he just...”

“Corona,” Via answered, curling her fingers into an iron-hard first. “He brought back Corona.”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Get to it, conspiracy theorists. Why in the world would the heroes need Corona? Could it be there’s something there that they want? Also, what do you think Silas’ ultimate fate will be?
> 
> One more chapter to go on this second installment before we can mark it complete. And just in time, too- the final chapter will be up three days before the Season Three premiere. I’m counting the minutes to the 7th, y’all.


	20. The Raiders Return

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Via deals with the aftermath of Silas’ betrayal- and comes face to face with what may be another. This second betrayal, however, is far more painful...

Lady Caine did not take kindly to the betrayal of her daughter. It was she who took charge of Silas, condemning him to the chilling location set aside for captured heroes- Maleficent’s dungeon. And it was she who, after hearing from Via what Silas had said about Varian, took advantage of the truth serum still in his system to find out just what the heroes had planned.

But there Via’s invention fell short. Silas couldn’t tell them what kind of danger Varian was facing- Silas, it turned out, didn’t know anything. He’d been kept in the dark on purpose when it came to the particulars, just in case something went wrong. Lady Caine let out a laugh when she heard that, a hard, bitter laugh with worry behind it. “That was a good idea on their part,” she said. “Because things could not have gone more wrong for you than they just did.” She slammed the dungeon door and stalked out into the corridor, where Via, who had heard every word of the conversation thanks to the echoing stone walls, was waiting.

“Nothing,” she said. “Not a single thing to go off of. Who knows what they’ve got planned for Dad...”

“We’ll find out,” Lady Caine assured her. “One way or another, we’ll get to the bottom of this. I promise you that, and you know what a promise means in our family. For now though, Via, it’s after midnight and you look exhausted. Why don’t we get you home? I’ll come back here in the morning and see if I can get anything else out of your Prince Charming.”

Mutely, Via turned and followed her mother out of the dungeon. She hadn’t realized how tired she was until Lady Caine had brought it up. When they reached the house she disappeared up the stairs with Rudiger on her heels and spent the next few minutes removing every trace of her Cotillion get-up. She scrubbed the makeup from her face, combed out her wild black curls and pulled them back into her favorite ponytail, and changed once again into her teal and black shirt and black jeans. The beautiful dark teal ballgown she left crumpled in a heap in a corner; it had been fun, she thought, to take something good and make it evil, but after the events of the night she wanted every scrap of Auradon out of her life. She stared into the mirror for a long time, until she was satisfied that it was a villain looking back. 

And then, because she was not only a villain but a young girl who’d just had her heart broken, she collapsed into bed and cried herself to sleep. Rudiger lay with her, curled into a soft, fluffy ball under her arm, stroking her face with a tiny black paw and purring softly as if to comfort her.

Her dreams that night were troubling ones, full of her father. She saw the _Blood Rose_ drawn in by vicious mermaids and left shattered on the reef, with vicious fairies falling on its crew. She saw an army of heroes boarding the ship, overwhelming the villains. She saw her father returned to his lonely cell in Corona with no one to care what happened to him. She saw Silas raising Corona from the ashes, and then she saw him doing the same with the barrier, trapping the villains on the Isle once again. She saw those awful black rocks rising from the earth to encase and surround her, sealing off any hope of escape. And then she saw her father, frozen forever in the unbreakable golden amber had torn his life apart.

She woke up screaming more than once, but by the time morning dawned there was a new determination in her heart. She would take Varian’s place as the one the villains looked up to, she told herself, and she would lead the charge to free him. She spent the day searching the house, gathering up every alchemical weapon she could find. Some were familiar ones that she had worked on with her father or invented herself, and others were the product of Varian’s mind alone. She studied them, learned to use them, speculated how they might be improved, envisioned the look on Silas’ face when she brought them against his hero friends and allies. By the time she was through she had the beginnings of a small armory and not a shred of love left for the boy who had stolen her heart.

She piled the weapons on the table and sat down in a chair, staring at the locked trapdoor in the center of the floor. “What’s down there, Rudiger?” she asked aloud, absently feeding her father’s pet a piece of apple. “What did Silas mean, the heroes knew Dad was planning something? What’s going on in Neverland and why did they need Corona so badly? What’s in Corona that matters so much?” She drew a long sigh. “For that matter, why did _I_ matter so much? I must have been a concern to them if they had to send Silas to try and turn me, but why? What were they afraid I might do?” 

She was asking the right questions, she knew, but until the heroes made their first move and gave her something to go off of, they were questions that had no answers.

The door squeaked open. “Knock, knock!” a familiar voice called. Gavin poked his head into the room. “Can I come in?”

Via nodded her head, not taking her eyes off the trapdoor. “Whoa,” Gavin said, closing the door behind him. “Where’s the war?”

“I’m going to start it,” Via said. Gavin sat down across from her, his blue eyes full of concern. Rudiger chittered happily and scampered over to rub up against him. 

“He’s glad you’re back,” Via said. “And so am I. I’m so sorry, Gavin. For everything. I never should have let Silas change me the way he did. And I never should have done what I did to you.”

“Hey.” Gavin reached across the table and squeezed her hand. “It’s okay, Via, really it is. Sure, I was angry for a while, but I knew something was up. You weren’t yourself. You didn’t realize what you were doing. Now things are as they should be, and as far as I’m concerned we’re friends again.”

“Thanks, Gavin,” Via said. “I’m gonna need a friend in the next few weeks.”

“So that’s what’s got you worried- what Silas said about your dad.”

“Mm-hmm. I just don’t get it! What did he mean, Dad was planning something? Why in the world do they need Corona? And what are they gonna do with him in Neverland? He’s walking into some sort of trap, and I can’t even warn him! I don’t even know what it is!”

“Don’t worry,” Gavin said. “Varian’s smart. Like, that’s his whole thing, isn’t it? Being smart? If there’s a trap, he’ll figure it out. They’ll never trick him, any more than Silas could trick you. And he loves you, Via. He’d do anything to get back to you. You’ll see. Things will be fine.”

The door banged open again, admitting a wild-eyed, disheveled Lady Caine. “Via!” she shouted. “Via!”

“In the kitchen, Mom,” Via replied, standing up quickly. “What’s going on?”

“They’re back,” Lady Caine replied. “The raiding party’s back. Dwayne just spotted the _Jolly Roger_.”

“What’d I tell you?” Gavin said triumphantly. “They’re perfectly fine!”

But Lady Caine shook her head. “I’m not so sure about that,” she said. “It’s just the _Jolly Roger_. The _Blood Rose_ isn’t with her. We need to get down there, Vi. Now.”

They wasted no more time on conversation. The three of them hurried out of the house, stopping only to let Gavin’s mother catch up with them and try to reassure Caine as they made their way to the docks.

The _Jolly Roger_ \- with her sister ship conspicuously missing- had just put down anchor. A horde of pirates was swarming down the gangplank, darting uncertain and even angry looks in the direction of Lady Caine and Via. Via’s heart was pounding, searching the deck for any sign of her father, any explanation for the glares being sent her way. There was nothing, no explanation, no answers. Rudiger curled close on her shoulder and Gavin squeezed her hand, worry in his face.

Suddenly a sardonic, heavily accented voice called out from the ship. “Ahoy there, Caine!”

Harry Hook leapt from the ship’s deck onto the dock, black anger written on his features. “I’m certainly glad ta see you,” he spat. “You’ve got some explainin’ ta do, ma’am.”

“Where’s my ship?” Caine demanded through clenched teeth. “And where’s Varian?”

“Your ship ended up in a thousand pieces off the Neverland shore.” Harry’s fingers curled into a fist. “And your husband turned traitor.”

Via staggered back, the breath escaping her lungs in a sharp little gasp. “What?”

Harry’s gaze flicked to her. “You heard me, missy. Varian’s gone and turned as good as good can be. And he proved it too. Saw him with me own eyes, I did, hurling those little balls of his at every villain he could see, with the queen of Corona on one side of him and the captain’s daughter on the other, friendly as you please!”

Pain and confusion squeezed Via’s heart in a tight, agonizing fist. “No,” she whispered quietly. “He wouldn’t. He’d never do that.”

“He’s done it, alright,” Harry replied. “Drove the rest of us right off Neverland and back to the ship. We were lucky to get out with our lives. Pulled the wool over all our eyes, the worthless, scalawag excuse for a-“

As quickly as lightning Lady Caine had her cutlass out and leveled at Harry’s neck. “Keep a civil tongue in your head, Codfish Jr.,” she ordered. “That’s my husband you’re talking about.”

But Via didn’t hear her mother’s words. She stood frozen on the dock, searching for something, some answer to this puzzle that made sense. “He wouldn’t turn traitor,” she whispered. “He wouldn’t. If I could resist Silas, then he would resist them. I know it.” 

Scenes from the last few months began to play out in her head, sorting themselves into a vague shadow of realization. That night in the living room, with Lady Caine commenting on how hard it was for mere pirates to fight the heroes’ powers. The many mornings that Varian had spent in his lab, hammering away on his secret project, his special task that even Via could not be privy to. Silas’ words just last night. “We knew he was planning something...”

And suddenly Via knew.

She turned to face Harry and the pirates, fire in her eyes. “My father isn’t a traitor,” she said coldly. “And I can prove it, back at our house.”

For a moment Harry stared at her. “Lead on, lassie,” he said at last. “But you better have a good reason for this.”

It was a strange little procession that made its way to the kitchen of Via’s house- first Caine and Via, then Harry, Uma and Gil, with Gavin and his mother bringing up the rear. Via didn’t waste any time looking for the key to the trapdoor; she simply seized a hammer and broke the lock. Then, without a word to anyone, she grabbed a flashlight and descended down the ladder.

“Look,” she said, directing the beam of light onto the far wall once they had all gathered at the ladder’s base. 

Harry raised an eyebrow. “What are they? And how does this prove anything?”

Via gestured to the five gleaming automaton suits, exact copies of the one her father had used at the Battle of Old Corona. “My father made these, to help combat some of the heroes’ powers. I just figured it out, there on the dock. Don’t you see? If my father spent all that time working on something that would help us so much, there’s no way he’d turn around and betray us. This proves he wasn’t planning a betrayal. Whatever happened on Neverland, it wasn’t his choice.”

“Good must have done something to him,” Gavin said, catching on to Via’s train of thought. “You said yourself, Harry, that he was with the heroes for a while before he attacked you. They must have used magic, or...or something, to change him. He’d never have done it willingly.”

“And whatever that something was,” Via said harshly, “I’m going to figure it out. And I’m going to reverse it and get my father back, if it’s the last thing I ever do.”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, ladies and gentlemen, that’s all I’ve got for this second installment of Via’s story. I won’t lie- this one’s been rough. I’ve been through a lot of opposition, both from another author and from people who, let’s just say, were given a very different history of events. I’ve had to write this story knowing that there were people out there who’d be reading another version, a version where Via’s struggles and sacrifices didn’t matter, where she was replaced with someone else. I’ve had to tell my tale knowing there were people who wouldn’t get to hear it the way it was supposed to be told. And for a writer, that’s a painful thing to go through.
> 
> But here we are, in spite of it all, at the end of the second installment. One more to go. I hope you all enjoyed this story as much as I enjoyed writing it, and I hope that the struggles I went through writing this story didn’t lessen its quality or enjoyableness. (That’s a word, right?)
> 
> I’ll be up bright and early on Monday morning to watch the premiere of Rapunzel’s Return. (Bless the DisneyNOW app which allows me to watch early...what a wonderful invention). Let me know your thoughts on this story and the premiere, and keep an eye out for Via’s final adventure, No Prisoners. Until next time,
> 
> SilverQuill

**Author's Note:**

> Welcome back, ladies and gentlemen! Via’s returned in full force in her new, villainous world. Which we are going to see more of in later chapters, don’t worry.
> 
> Also, I’m going to say at the outset that Caden and Cassandra will not be appearing in this story. That crazy Season 2 ending threw a monkey wrench in that dynamic. So yeah, until the show figures that out, we’re just going to have that mother-daughter duo fade into the shadows. Everyone else is set for a comeback though, so we’ll find out eventually who stayed good and who returned to evil.
> 
> So here we are again! Let me know what you thought of this glimpse into the New Auradon, the introduction of Gavin Gothel, and who this newcomer might be! See you next Friday for Chapter Two!


End file.
